LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


GIFT    OF 

Class 


f 


h 


ARTICULATION 

OF  HIGH  SCHOOL 

AND  COLLEGE 


REORGANIZATION 
OF  SECONDARY  EDUCATION 


ARTICULATION   OF 
HIGH    SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE 

THE    REORGANIZATION    OF     SECONDARY    EDUCATION 


STATEMENT 


OF   THE   HIGH    SCHOOIv  TEACHERS   ASSOCIATION 
OF   NEW   YORK    CITY 


OPINIONS 

FROM    COI.I.EGE   PRESIDENTS,    SUPERINTENDENTS, 
AND    HIGH    SCHOOI.   PRINCIPAI^S 

RESOLUTIONS 

ADOPTED     BY    THREE    DEPARTMENTS    OF    THE 
NATIONAI.    EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 


HIGH  SCHOOL 

TEACHERS  ASSOCIATION 

New  York    City 

November.  1910 


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INTRODUCTION 


The  conviction  is  spreading  throughout  the  United  States  that  our 
high  schools  are  seriously  handicapped  by  present  college  entrance 
requirements.  In  the  west,  the  colleges  and  high  schools  are  co-operat- 
ing with  marked  success  in  bringing  about  a  better  articulation  of  these 
two  institutions.  In  order  to  hasten  a  reform  in  the  east  the  High 
School  Teachers  Association  of  New  York  City  at  its  meeting  in  March, 
1910,  authorized  the  President  of  the  Association,  Mr.  Arthur  L.  Janes, 
to  appoint  a  committee  of  five  to  consider  what  steps  should  be  taken. 
He  appointed  the  following  committee: — William  McAndrew,  Principal 
of  the  Washington  Irving  High  School;  Ellen  R.  Rushmore,  of  the 
Manual  Training  High  School;  James  Sullivan,  Principal  of  the  Boys 
High  School;  James  F.  Wilson,  of  the  Stuyvesant  High  School;  and 
Clarence  D.  Kingsley,  of  the  Manual  Training  High  School,  Chairman. 
This  committee  made  a  detailed  study  of  the  entrance  requirements  of 
a  large  number  of  colleges  and  drew  up  a  statement  setting  forth  the 
Impossibility  of  wisely  meeting  the  needs  of  our  high  school  students 
on  account  of  present  college  entrance  requirements.  The  committee 
suggested  two  methods  of  improving  the  situation: 

1.  By  the  first  method  college  entrance  would  be  based  upon  the 
simple  fact  of  graduation  from  a  four-year  course  in  a  first-class  high 
school.  This  method  would  give  complete  satisfaction  to  the  high 
school.  If  supplemented  by  competent  examination  into  the  efficiency 
of  each  school,  we  believe  this  method  would  tend  to  develop  within  the 
high  school  that  independence,  breadth,  and  judgment  required  to  pro- 
duce the  best  results.  The  improvement  in  the  high  schools  would 
result  in  better  preparation  and  more  students  for  the  college. 

2.  The  second  method,  not  as  radical  as  the  first,  was  proposed,  in 
order  that  the  high  schools  might  derive  as  soon  as  possible  some  meas- 
ure of  relief  from  present  conditions. 

This  second  method  calls  for: 

(a)  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  so-called  "required"  subjects, 
together  with 

(b)  the  recognition  of  all  standard  subjects,  as  electives. 

The  requirement  of  two  foreign  languages  from  every  student  is 
regarded  as  particularly  objectionable. 

The  committee  reported  its  conclusions  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
association  May  7th,  1910.  The  association  ratified  its  statement,  which 
is  given  on  pages  8  and  9   of  this  pamphlet,  and  instructed  the  com- 


mittee  to  send  it  out  and  to  invite  correspondence  upon  the  matters 
involved. 

The  committee  wrote  to  the  Presidents  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
colleges,  to  each  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and  to  a 
number  of  City  Superintendents  and  High  School  Principals.  The 
replies  in  which  opinions  were  expressed  are  given,  practically  com- 
plete, in  this  pamphlet,  and  arranged  by  states,  the  replies  from  the 
colleges  being  given  first  under  each  state.  Two  or  three  replies  have 
been  omitted  because  they  were  not  for  publication.  All  the  replies  in 
Ihis  pamphlet,  with  one  exception,  were  received  in  May  and  June. 

ANALYSIS    OF    REPLIES. 

We  have  received  expressions  of  opinion  from  the  presidents  of  the 
twenty  five  following  colleges  and  universities: — Adelphi,  Brown, 
Buffalo,  Case  School,  Chicago,  Dickinson,  Girard,  Goucher  (formerly 
Woman's  College  of  Baltimore),  Haverford,  Illinois,  Massachusetts 
Agricultural,  Middlebury,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  Northwestern,  Ohio, 
Pittsburgh,  Purdue,  Rochester,  St.  Johns,  Stevens,  Swarthmore,  Trinity, 
Tufts,  and  Williams. 

Of  the  presidents  of  these  twenty-five  colleges  and  universities,  three 
state  that  they  are  not  in  favor  of  the  change  from  two  to  one  foreign 
language.  Nearly  all  of  the  other  presidents  endorse  some  or  all  of 
the  recommendations  indicated  in  our  statement.  Several  college 
presidents  write  that  they  will  recommend  forthwith  to  their  faculties 
modifications  as  suggested,  and  in  several  cases  the  presidents  are  in 
favor  of  our  first  proposition,  namely  admitting  students  upon  gradua- 
tion from  standard  high  schools.  In  some  cases,  the  presidents  write 
that  they  have  already  reduced  the  number  of  required  subjects  and 
have  recognized  a  wide  range  of  subjects  as  electives. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  President  Emeritus  of  Harvard  University,  is 
one  of  the  few  who  take  a  different  view  of  the  situation.  He  dis- 
approves of  the  accrediting  system.  He  disapproves  of  admitting 
students  with  only  one  foreign  language.  He  sanctions  a  wide  range 
of  subjects  as  electives  but  his  reply  seems  to  indicate  a  belief  that 
a  wide  differentiation  of  high  schools  may  accomplish  the  ends  of  a 
wise  reorganization  of  secondary  education.  This,  however,  as  a 
substitute  for  a  revision  of  entrance  requirements  would  assume  that 
the  students  in  commercial  and  other  modern  courses  would  continue 
to  have  the  present  difficulties  in  preparing  for  a  regular  college. 

From  the  following  eight  colleges  and  universities  we  have  received 
replies  from  professors  to  whom  our  statement  was  referred:  Cornell, 
Columbia,  Johns  Hopkins,  Ohio  State,  Ohio  Wesleyan,  Pennsylvania, 
Union,  and  theUniversity  of  Washington. 

.        •  ^  ^         . 


We  have  received  replies  from  the  State  Superintendents  of  Public 
Instruction  in  the  following  states:  Massachusetts,  Vermont,  Rhode 
Island,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  New  Mexico;  from 
State  Superintendent  Joyner  of  North  Carolina,  President  last  year  of 
the  National  Education  Association;  from  Deputy  Superintendent 
Tietriek  of  Pennsylvania;  and  from  State  High  School  Inspector  Hay- 
ward,  who  writes  for  the  State  Superintendent  of  North  Dakota.  It  is 
significant  that  every  one  of  these  superintendents,  without  exception, 
agrees  wholly,  or  in  the  main,  with  our  recommendations.  State 
Superintendent  Draper  of  New  York  writes,  "I  think  that  the  colleges 
should  receive  the  graduates  of  recognized  high  schools  and  give  them 
their  opportunity  to  show  whether  or  not  they  can  do  college  work." 
State  Superintendent  Snedden  of  Massachusetts  writes,  "The  present 
situation  is  most  objectionable,  and  especially  in  the  restrictive  effects 
it  is  having  on  true  high  school  development."  State  Superintendent 
Stone  of  Vermont  sets  forth  the  function  of  the  high  school'  thus: 
("The  chief  function  of  the  high  school  is  to  enable  the  individual  to 
*find  out  what  he  can  best  do  and  to  give  him  a  certain  degree  of 
culture  and  discipline.  If  the  individual  is  required  to  fit  the  school 
land  the  school  does  not  fit  the  individual,  the  individual  becomes  crip- 
\pled,  and  we  are  having  too  many  deformities  as  a  result  of  our 
jp-estricted  and  required  courses." 

^  We  have  also  received  expressions  of  opinion  from  about  twenty 
superintendents  of  schools  in  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Cleve- 
land, Springfield,  and  other  important  school  systems.  These  replies 
have  been  practically  unanimous  in  endorsing  the  movement.  The 
majority  were  emphatic  in  their  approval. 

THE  FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  HIGH  SCHOOL. 

The  articulation  of  high  school  and  college  should  proceed  upon  a 
clear  conception  of  the  functions  of  the  high  school.  These  functions 
seem  to  be  the  three  following: 

'  (1)  To  help  the  individual  discover  what  he  can  best  do  in  view  of 
his  own  ability  and  the  conditions  in  his  community. 

(2)  To  give  him  a  carefully  planned  course,  adapted  to  his  needs 
as  rapidly  as  his  bent  is  discovered. 

(3)  To  inspire  him  to  continue  his  education  further  if  circum- 
stances warrant. 

If  this  statement  is  sound,  it  follows  that: 

(1)  To  perform  the  first  function,  our  high  school  educators  need 
to  be  able  to  help  the  student  discover  his  bent  and  to  know  the  vari- 
ous opportunities  existing  in  the  community. 

(2)  The  second  function  calls  for  many  differentiated  courses,  and 
many  prefer  to  have  these  courses  side  by  side  in  the  same  school  so  that 


the  student  may  be  encouraged  and  not  hindered  in  selecting  the  course 
best  for  him,  when  he  discovers  himself. 

(3)  The  third  function  calls  for  the  broadening  of  the  basis  of 
college  entrance,  in  order  that  we  may  have  no  unnecessary  blind  alleys 
in  our  high  schools. 

In  addition  to  those  four-year  courses,  which  we  hope  the  college  will 
soon  fully  recognize,  many  communities  need  the  establishment  of 
two-year  courses  and  trade  courses  planned  without  reference  to  college 
admission. 

SAI.IENT  POINTS  IN  THE   DISCUSSION. 

First.  Frequent  reference  is  made  in  the  replies  received  to  the 
fact  tnat  no  one  can  foretell  upon  a  student's  entering  high  school 
whether  or  not  he  will  finally  go  to  college.  We  wish  to  emphasize 
this  as  the  fundamental  point  in  our  whole  discussion.  If  it  were 
possible  to  foretell,  the  American  high  school  should  be  censured  for 
not  performing  its  third  function,  that  of  inspiring  students  to  a  desire 
for  higher  education.  The  colleges  themselves  have  long  recognized 
the  desirability  of  encouraging  children  from  the  humblest  families  in 
their  endeavor  to  obtain  a  higher  education.  Any  separation  of  students 
into  college  preparatory  high  schools  and  other  high  schools  would 
be  a  distinct  abandonment  of  that  which  American  education  has 
heretofore  regarded  as  its  greatest  achievement.  Such  a  system  might 
be  viewed  with  favor  m  a  country  dominated  by  class  distinctions. 

Second.  We  fear  that  the  educational  value  of  manual  training 
and  commercial  subjects  is  not  yet  fully  recognized.  We  do  not  agree 
with  the  idea  that  these  subjects  should  be  taken  in  the  high  school 
only  by  those  whose  college  course  is  to  contain  a  continuation  of 
these  subjects.  On  the  cohtrary,  if  a  student  is  going  to  a  college  where 
no  opportunity  is  afforded  for  ^he  education  that  comes  through  the 
hand,  or  where  no  courses  are  offered  in  commercial  theory  and  prac- 
tice, his  need  for  some  such  work  in  the  high  school  is  all  the  greater. 
For  instance,  engineers  often  fail  from  lack  of  business  sense,  and 
physicians  and  surgeons  need  skill  of  hand. 

Third.  Our  education  would  gain  in  power  and  in  virility  if  we  made 
more  of  the  dominant  interest  that  each  boy  and  each  girl  has  at  the 
time.  A  high  grade  course  in  stenography  and  typewriting  that  appeals 
to  the  dominant  interest  of  the  boy  or  girl  will  aftord  excellent  training 
in  spelling,  punctuation,  and  composition.  This  training  becomes  of 
value  whatever  college  course  may  be  built  upon  it. 

The  gain  which  would  come  to  our  colleges  by  the  encouragement  in 
the  high  school  of  courses  that  make  their  appeal  to  the  live  interests 
of  real  boys  and  girls  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the  reply  of  Dean  Daven- 
port of  the  University  of  Illinois  and  in  his  valuable  book,  "Education 
for  EflBciency." 

6 


Probably  as  many  students  fail  in  college  from  a  lack  of  determina- 
tion and  aim,  as  from  a  lack  in  quantity  of  preparation  along  estab- 
lished lines,  and  consequently  a  reorganization  of  secondary  education 
that  will  assist  boys  and  girls  to  get  a  purpose  in  life  before  leaving 
the  high  school  will  help  the  college  in  many  ways. 

Fourth.  While  it  may  be  true  that  the  newer  subjects  for  which  we 
seek  recognition  in  many  cases  are  not  as  well  taught  as  the  older 
subjects,  still  we  believe  that  the  way  to  raise  the  standard  is  to  hold 
out  to  the  schools  the  incentive  that  these  subjects  will  be  accepted 
just  as  rapidly  as  the  work  comes  up  to  a  high  standard  in  each  par- 
ticular school.  In  this  way  the  school  will  be  encouraged  and  not  hin- 
dered, Boards  of  Education  will  more  readily  improve  the  equipment 
and  employ  capable  teachers  for  these  subjects,  and  the  students  will 
not  be  overcrowded  in  the  attempt  to  carry  the  new  subjects  in  addition 
to  the  full  amount  of  the  older  subjects. 

CONCLUSION. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  high  school  itself  is  confronted  by  new 
and  difficult  problems  the  solution  of  which  is  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance to  the  community,  it  certainly  seems  not  unreasonable  that  the 
High  School  should  ask  of  the  College  all  the  co-operation  possible  in 
order  that  working  together  they  may  advance  the  best  interests  of  the 
educational  system  for  the  benefit  of  all  concerned. 

Even  though  there  may  be  fears  that  the  results  temporarily  may 
in  some  cases  be  somewhat  unsatisfactory  judged  from  the  older 
standards  of  set  and  finished  results,  yet  in  the  interests  of  the  enthu- 
siasm which  comes  in  meeting  new  conditions  and  from  the  satisfac- 
tion which  arises  in  solving  new  problems,  a  quality  for  which  the 
American  people  is  distinguished,  we  issue  this  pamphlet  in  the  hope 
that  the  College  may  make  the  modifications  needed  by  the  High  School. 

CLARENCE  D.   KINGSLEY,   Chairman 
WILLIAM  McANDREW 
ELLEN  R.  RUSHMORE 
JAMES  SULLIVAN 
JAMES  F.  WILSON 

Committee  on  Conference  with  the  Colleges. 
Address  of  the  Chairman, 
400  Fourth  Street, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Three  sections  of  the  National  Education  Association,  at  the  annual 
meeting  July  1910,  passed  resolutions  upon  the  urgent  need  for  the 
revision  of  college  entrance  requirements.  These  resolutions  are 
given  on  the  last  pages  of  this  pamphlet. 


STATEMENT 


OF  THK 

HIGH    SCHOOL    TEACHERS    ASSOCIATION 

ON  THE 

ARTICULATION    OF   HIGH   SCHOOL   AND   COLLEGE 
The  Reorganization  of  Secondary  Education 

We  believe  that  the  interests  of  the  forty  thousand  boys  and  girls 
who  annually  attend  the  nineteen  high  schools  of  this  city  cannot  be 
wisely  and  fully  served  under  present  college  entrance  re- 
quirements. Our  experience  seems  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  wide 
discrepancy  )3etween  "preparation  for  life"  and  "preparation  ,foT 
college"  as  defined  by  college  entrance  requirements. 

So  long  as  this  discrepancy  exists,  both  the  child  and  society  suffer, 
for  the  following  two  reasons: 

First: — Every  attempt  to  divide  high  school  students  into  two  classes 
and  to  prepare  one  class  for  college  and  the  other  class  for  life  is  un- 
satisfactory. Many  of  those  being  "prepared  for  college"  drop  out 
of  school  without  proper  education  for  citizenship  and  without  the 
industrial  or  commercial  efficiency  which  society  rightly  demands  the 
tax-supported  high  school  should  develop.  Those  being  "prepared  for 
life"  include  many  who,  later  in  their  course,  would  go  to  college  if  the 
work  already  done  were  recognized  by  the  colleges. 

Second: — The  attempt  to  prepare  the  student  for  college  under  the 
present  requirements  and  at  the  same  time  to  teach  him  such  other 
subjects  as  are  needed  for  life  is  unsatisfactory.  Under  these  con- 
ditions the  student  often  has  too  much  to  do.  The  quality  of  all  his 
work  is  likely  to  suffer.  The  additional  subjects  are  slighted  because 
they  do  not  count  for  admission  to  college.  In  such  a  course  it  is 
Impossible  for  the  student  to  give  these  subjects  as  much  time  and 
energy  as  social  conditions  demand. 

For  these  reasons  we  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  entrance 
requirements  of  Clark  College.  This  college  accepts  the  graduates  of 
any  New  England  public  high  school  or  of  any  other  high  school  with 
equivalent  standard.  They  report  that  the  results  are  satisfactory  to 
the  college.  May  we  ask  what,  in  your  opinion,  would  be  the  objections, 
if  any,  to  the  acceptance  by  your  college,  of  the  graduates  of  the  high 
schools  of  New  York  City?  Such  a  definition  of  entrance  requirements 
would  secure  to  the  college  a  four  years'  preparatory  course  and  would 
enable  the  high  school  to  perform  its  function  as  a  tax-supported 
institution.  Under  the  present  method  of  defining  entrance  require- 
ments, students  who  have  not  completed  our  courses  of  study  repeatedly 
gain  admission  to  college,  often  to  the  weakening  of  both  college  and 
high  school. 


If  this  departure  seems  too  radical,  may  we  call  your  attention  to 
the  following  statements  and  recommend  the  modifications  in  present 
entrance  requirements  which  seem  to  us  most  urgent?  There  are 
seven  distinct  lines  of  work  which  we  believe  essential  to  a  well- 
rounded  high  school  course;  to  wit,  language,  mathematics,  history  and 
civics,  science,  music,  drawing,  and  manual  training.  Girls  must  be 
taught  household  science  and  art.  Moreover,  we  believe  that  the 
twentieth  century  demands  that  the  high  schools  should  not  cast  all 
students  in  the  same  mold;  that  the  amount  of  science  and  manual 
training  which  is  sufficient  for  one  student  is  utterly  inadequate  for 
another;  and  that  a  training  for  business  may  be  given  in  the  high 
school  which  will  be  as  cultural  and  as  respectable  as  any  other  course. 
To  enable  the  high  schools  to  adapt  secondary  education  to  the  varying 
needs  of  different  students  in  such  a  manner  as  to  meet  the  diverse 
demands  of  the  professions,  of  industry,  and  of  commerce,  progress  * 
seems  to  us  to  require 

(a)  the  reduction  in  the  number  of  so-called  "required"  subjects, 

together  with 

(b)  the  recognition   of  all  standard  subjects,  as  electives. 
The   specified   entrance   requirement   of  two   foreign   languages,   the 

meager  electives  in  science,  and  the  absence  of  recognition  for  drawing, 
music,  household  science  and  art,  shopwork,  commercial  branches,  and 
civics  and  economics,  constitute  the  chief  diffiulty. 

We  should  like  to  see  it  possible  for  a  student  upon  entering  the 
high  school  to  choose  Latin  or  German  or  French;  to  confine  his  work 
in  foreign  language,  during  his  high  school  course,  to  one  such  language 
in  case  the  remainder  of  his  time  is  required  for  other  subjects;'  and 
to  find  at  the  end  of  his  high  school  course  that  he  has  met  the  foreign 
language  requirements  of  whatever  college  he  may  choose  to  enter. 
We  should  like  to  see  no  discrimination  against  Latin  for  the  course 
leading  to  the  B.  S.  degree,  so  that  students  choosing  any  language 
may  enter  the  B.  S.  course. 

We  should  like  to  see  the  following  subjects  recognized  by  college 
entrance  credits: 

Music,  1  unit;  mechanical  and  freehand  drawing,  each  1/2  to  1  unit; 
joinery,  pattern  making,  forging,  machine  shop  practice,  each  1/2  to  1 
unit;  household  chemistry,  botany,  zoology,  physiography,  applied 
physics,  and  advanced  chemistry,  each  1  unit;  modern  history,  1  unit; 
civics  and  economics,  each  1/2  to  1  unit;  household  science  and  art,  2 
units;  and  commercial  geography,  commercial  law,  stenography  and 
typewriting,  elementary  bookkeeping,  advanced  bookkeeping,  and  ac- 
counting, each  1/2  to  1  unit. 

A  recent  study  of  entrance  requirements  shows  that  many  colleges 
are  already  requiring  only  one  foreign  language  for  admission,  and 
that  many  of  the  above  subjects  have  received  recognition. 


REPLIES 

ARRANGED      BY      STATES 


CONNECTICUT 

FLAVEL  S.  LUTHER,  LL.  D.,  President  Trinity  College. 

I  have  received  your  letter  of  May  18th  with  the  accompanying 
circular.  I  fully  appreciate  your  position.  Please  understand,  how- 
ever that,  in  what  follows,  I  express  only  my  personal  opinions,  with 
which  I  do  not  believe  many  college  faculties  would  coincide. 

I  agree  with  you  fully  that  the  present  situation  is  intolerable. 
I  agree  with  almost  everything  in  your  circular  except,  perhaps,  the 
assignment  of  numerical  values  to  a  specific  list  of  subjects.  It  seems 
to  me  that  what  the  colleges  ought  to  want  is  this — some  process 
whereby  they  may  be  assured  that  candidates  entering  college  have 
reached  such  a  stage  of  intellectual  maturity  and  training  that  they 
are  capable  of  undertaking  college  work,  under  college  methods  of 
teaching,  with  a  fair  prospect  of  success.  In  the  old  days  Freshmen 
entering  college  went  on  with  the  studies  which  they  had  been  pursu- 
ing in  school,  and  the  quantitative  requirements  were  reasonable,  per- 
haps -  inevitable.  To-day  the  situation  has  been  entirely  changed.  In 
Trinity  College,  for  example,  there  is  no  subject  taught,  except  Latin 
and  Mathematics,  which  is  not  begun  in  college;  that  is  to  say,  there 
are  only  these  two  subjects  for  which  any  specific  training  is  necessary 
beyond  Reading,  Writing,  and  Arithmetic.  Of  course,  it  is  proper  to 
point  out  that  Physics,  Civil  Engineering,  and  some  other  subjects,  do 
require  a  further  Mathematical  preparation.  Greek,  French,  Italian, 
Spanish,  History,  Physics,  Chemistry,  Biology,  Economics,  Philosophy, 
etc.,  etc.,  are  or  may  be  begun  in  our  institution. 

Again,  then,  it  appears  that  what  we  want  is  some  reasonable  con- 
fidence that  our  students  may  begin  these  studies  and  go  on  with  them 
rapidly  and  successfully,  of  course  with  the  understanding  that  they 
may  pick  up  some  of  these  subjects  at  such  an  advanced  stage  as  their 
preparation  may  justify.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  makes  very  much 
difference  what  boys  and  girls  study  in  the  high  school  so  far  as  their 
college  career  is  concerned,  provided  they  ^udy  hard  and  secure  suf- 
ficient intellectual  development  and  training  to  enable  them  to  do  some 
kind  of  work  appropriate  to  the  college  age  and  the  college  courses. 

An  ideal  arrangement  to  my  mind  would  be  one  whereby  a  very,  very 
large  list  of  high  schools  and  preparatory  schools  should  be  prepared 
under  competent  authority,  with  the  understanding  that  these  schools 
might  send  their  students  to  any  college  in  the  country  simply  upon 

10 


certificate  of  graduation.  Among  other  advantages  this  plan  would 
result  in  the  saving  of  practically  a  year  of  each  candidate's  life,  now 
devoted  to  preparation  for  formal  and  highly  unsatisfactory  examina- 
tions. I  believe  that  we  shall  come  to  some  such  plan  as  this,  sooner 
or  later. 

CHARLES    W.    DEANE,   Ph.D.,    City   Superintendent,   Bridgeport. 

I  consider  the  ideas  set  forth  in  it  sound,  and  would  be  glad  to  see 
them  prevail. 

CHARLES  B.  JENNINGS,  City  Superintendent,  New  London. 

It  is  high  time,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  colleges  of  the  country 
abandoned  their  time-honored  practice  and  custom  of  prescribing  a  cer- 
tain cut  and  dried  examination  that  all  applicants  must  pass  before 
entering  college.  Without  any  desire  to  criticize,  I  have  felt  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  that  the  colleges  have  not  responded  as  much  as  the  lower 
schools  to  the  modern  trend  of  public  opinion  in  regard  to  education. 
They  will  all  come  into  line  eventually,  for  they  mean  right.  It  is 
simply  the  inertia  of  long  continued  custom.  I  am  heartily  in  favor 
of  the  plan,  as  outlined,  which  you  send  to  me. 

B.   W.   TINKER,    City   Superintendent,    Waterbury. 

For  a  long  time  I  have  felt  that  the  colleges  were  making  unnecessary 
restrictions  in  regard  to  "preparation."  The  number  of  required  sub- 
jects is  so  great  that  if  the  work  of  preparation  is  not  begun  immed- 
iately upon  entering  high  school,  it  is  almost  always  necessary  for  the 
pupils  to  spend  five  years  or  more  in  such  preparation.  Too  much 
attention  is  paid  to  the  amount  of  matter  covered,  and  too  little  to 
how  it  is  covered.  It  ought  to  be  a  question  of  ability.  I  am  heartily 
in  sympathy  with  the  work  you  are  undertaking. 

EDWARD    H.    GUMBART,    Ph.D.,    Principal,    Norwalk    High    School, 

South  Norwalk. 

I  heartily  agree  with  the  sentiments  expressed.  Please  count  me  in 
to  support  any  movement  to  carry  out  such  a  reorganization  of  sec- 
ondary education  as  you  have  proposed. 

JOHN   P.   GUSHING,    Head   Master,    New   Haven    High   School, 

New   Haven. 

Your  articulation  of  high  school  and  college  is  too  liberal  for  me. 


11 


ILLINOIS 

HARRY    PRATT    JUDSON,    LL.D.,    President    University    of    Chicago. 

I  am  much  interested  in  your  statement.  It  hardly  needs  referring 
to  the  faculty  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  as  we  have  been  for  some 
time  very  nearly  on  the  basis  indicated.  In  my  opinion  a  student  who 
has  gone  through  the  four  years'  course  in  a  high  school  of  recognized 
good  quality  ought  to  be  admitted  to  college,  and  the  college  curriculum 
ought  to  be  adjusted  so  as  to  permit  such  student  to  find  suitable  work. 

ABRAM  W.  HARRIS,  LL.  D.,  President  Northwestern  University, 

Evanston. 

I  was  for  eight  years  President  of  the  University  of  Maine.  I  have 
now  been  for  four  years  President  of  Northwestern  University,  and  in 
between  I  was  for  five  years  principal  of  the  Jacob  Tome  Institute, 
which  contained  a  boys'  boarding  school  of  high  school  grade.  My 
Tome  experience  gave  me  knowledge  of  the  problem  you  are  consid- 
■ering,  and  I  sympathize  fully  with  your  purposes. 

When  at  Maine  I  brought  into  use  admission  by  certificate,  which 
required,  (1)  graduation  from  a  four-year  high  school,  and  (2)  the 
satisfactory  completion  of  certain  specified  studies  that  made  up  ap- 
proximately one-third  of  the  high  school  course,  and  (3)  a  definite 
recommendation  of  the  principal  that  the  candidate  was,  in  his  judg- 
ment, fitted  for  the  course  he  was  to  undertake. 

This  system  was  intended  to  leave  large  liberty  in  developing  the 
high  school  course  to  those  who  knew  local  conditions  best,  namely, 
the  principals.  It  was  intended  to  establish  sympathetic  and  cordial 
relations  with  the  principals.  The  plan  was  eminently  successful, 
and  under  it  the  standard  of  scholarship  constantly  improved.  Stu- 
dents who  completed  the  required  studies,  but  had  not  completed  a 
high  school  course,  were  allowed  to  take  examinations  and  were  ad- 
mitted if  their  ranks  were  thoroughly  satisfactory.  The  number  of 
such  candidates  was  small,  and  only  a  small  proportion  passed,  al- 
though occasionally  a  very  good  man  was  admitted  whose  prepara- 
tion had  been  irregular. 

Northwestern  University  has  recently  modified  its  admission  re- 
quirements for  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  with  the  express  intention 
of  accomplishing  the  results  you  desire. 

EDMUND  J.  JAMES,  LL.D.,  President  University  of  Illinois. 

I  do  not  suppose  the  University  of  Illinois  would  make  any  objection 
to  accepting  the  graduates  of  the  high  schools  of  New  York  City  for 
matriculation  in  the  University.     There  are  certain  fundamental  sub- 

12 


jects  varying  with  the  course  chosen,  which  we  have  to  require  be- 
cause the  knowledge  of  these  subjects  is  a  technical  requirement  for 
success  in  the  course.  Otherwise  I  believe  you  will  find  the  University 
of  Illinois  in  full  sympathy  with  the  general  proposition  of  your  com- 
munication. 


H.   A.   HOLLISTER,    High   School   Visitor,   University   of  Illinois. 

President  James,  of  the  University,  has  just  sent  to  me  your  letter 
of  May  30th  with  a  request  that  I  underake  to  reply.  I  have  read  with 
interest  your  circular  on  "Articulation  of  High  School  and  College." 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  general  position  taken  by  your  committee  in 
regard  to  these  matters  is  fully  justified  by  the  situation. 

The  University  of  Illinois  has  long  exercised  a  liberal  attitude  in 
regard  to  electives.  Foreign  language  work,  for  instance,  has  been 
prescribed  only  for  the  College  of  Literature  and  Arts,  and  even  in 
this  case  no  particular  language  has  been  prescribed  for  admission.  A 
wide  range  of  electives  in  science  and  history  has  characterized  our 
attitude  toward  secondary  schools.  More  recently  we  have  broadened 
out  still  more  by  introducing  in  our  list  of  electives  for  admission 
manual  training,  commercial  work,  domestic  science,  and  agriculture. 
With  the  exception  of  work  in  manual  training,  we  have  had  little 
experience,  as  yet,  with  these  new  subjects.  We  are  just  assigning 
credit  to  a  limited  group  of  high  schools  for  the  first  time  this  spring. 
In  the  case  of  manual  training  work,  the  experience  thus  far  has  been 
very  satisfactory.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  indication  of  any 
depreciation  in  the  quality  of  preparation  offered  by  students  who  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  subject  as  an  elective.  We  do  not  anticipate 
any  difficulty  with  regard  to  other  new  subjects  mentioned  above. 

One  of  the  most  serious  difficulties  we  have,  however,  in  adjusting 
credits  with  reference  to  these  subjects  is  the  comparative  lack  of  uni- 
formity in  the  nature  and  grade  of  work  offered  by  the  high  school. 
These  difficulties  we  are  undertaking  to  overcome  through  a  conference 
of  high  school  teachers  which  meets  annually  here  at  the  University. 
In  these  conferences  we  invite  representative  high  school  people  to 
discuss  with  us  standards  and  unit  definitions  with  regard  to  all  en- 
trance subjects,  and  thus  far  we  have  found  it  possible  to  base  our 
requirements  on  the  definitions  agreed  to  by  these  conferences.  In  this 
way  we  hope  gradually  to  be  able  to  establish  these  new  subjects  on  a 
basis  of  equality  as  to  subject  matter,  dealing  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
the  accrediting  of  them  as  simple  as  that  of  the  standard  high  school 
subjects. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  in  our  experience  in  dealing  with  high  schools,  it  seems  much 

13 


more  diflScult  to  get  teachers  as  well  equipped  for  the  teaching  of 
these  newer  branches  as  those  who  teach  the  older  academic  subjects. 
One  does  not  have  to  seek  very  far  to  find  reasons  for  this.  Very  few 
institutions  are  really  prepared  to  train  teachers  with  adequate  schol- 
arship attainments  for  the  teaching  of  the  manual  arts,  domestic 
science,  commercial  subjects,  or  agriculture.  If  you  happen  to  get 
hold  of  a  recent  publication  by  me  entitled  "High  School  Administrav' 
tion,"  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  you  will  find  in  it  a  chapter  dealing  with  the 
relation  of  the  high  school  to  colleges  and  universities,  in  which  I  have 
tried  to  explain  the  situation,  especially  with  reference  to  the  accredit- 
ing of  subjects  more  modern  and  practical  in  character. 

I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  is  is  quite  desirable  that  we 
proceed  with  some  deliberation  in  undertaking  to  standardize  these 
subjects  which  are  now  calling  for  recognition.  This  need  is  probably 
not  BO  much  felt  in  New  England  and  New  York  as  it  is  in  the  Middle 
"West  where  our  growth  is  more  recent  and  where  our  development 
is  rapid.  However  this  may  be,  I  feel  sure  that  the  ultimate  aim  and 
purpose  of  our  colleges  and  universities  should  be  fully  as  broad  as 
that  indicated  in  your  circular  on  the  subject  of  "College  Entrance." 

EUGENE  DAVENPORT,  Dean  of  College  of  Agriculture,  University  of 

Illinois. 

First,  let  me  say  that  I  am  glad  to  give  this  opinion  for  what  it  is 
worth,  though  I  do  not  pose  as  an  educational  expert.  The  little 
book,  "Education  for  Efficiency,"  was  an  outpouring  of  my  own  experi- 
ence in  acting  as  a  godfather  to  a  new  subject  trying  to  blaze  its  way 
xnto  good  academic  society.  I  would  be  the  last  to  degra-de  the  high 
standards  of  this  society,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  contended 
strenuously  that  when  a  new  member  comes  along,  he  ought  to  be 
admitted. 

The  point  you  raise,  however,  involves  even  a  larger  question  in 
academic  policy,  and  yet  I  find  myself  in  thorough  sympathy  with  the 
position  taken  by  the  teachers  of  the  high  schools.  To  me  the  high 
school  is  par  excellence  the  educational  center  of  the  community  in 
which  the  great  bulk  of  the  young  people  will  receive  all  the  training 
they  will  ever  get  for  the  life  that  they  will  pursue,  and  that  very 
generally  they  will  find  their  lives  not  far  removed  from  the  vicinity 
of  the  school.  The  matter  you  mention  is  fundamental  in  that  it  Is 
impossible  to  determine  at  any  time  which  individuals  will  ultimately 
go  to  college  and  which  will  not,  and  therefore  the  training  of  the 
two  in  this  respect  must  be  identical,  all  of  which  means  that  the 
colleges  and  universities  must  "hitch  on"  (a  good  agricultural  phrase) 
to  the  high  schools  the  best  they  may,  or  else  the  high  schools  will 
be  distorted  into  nothing  but  preparatory  schools  for  college  to  the 

14 


vast  detriment  of  the  mass  of  students  who  will  never  see  the  college 
for  which  they  were  supposedly  prepared. 

This  University  publishes  a  list  of  subjects  which  would  be  accepted 
for  credit,  and  while  it  does  not  announce  that  it  will  accept  for  credit 
anything  and  everything  that  is  taught  in  any  school,  yet  it  puts 
into  this  list  every  new  subject  that  is  offered  in  the  high  schools 
as  soon  as  this  subject  is  even  reasonably  well  taught.  For  example, 
we  now  accept  for  admission  in  this  University:  Agriculture,  one  to 
two  units;  Business  Law,  one-half  unit;  Domestic  Science,  one  unit; 
Manual  Training,  one  to  two  units,  etc.  Foreign  language  is  required 
for  admission  only  in  the  College  of  Literature  and  Arts.  However, 
foreign  language  is  practically  required  for  graduation  in  all  the 
colleges.  Certain  substitutions  may  be  made  in  the  Colleges  of  Agri- 
culture and  Engineering,  but  at  considerable  additional  labor  on  the 
part  of  the  student. 

This  all  means,  I  think,  that  we  are  perfectly  ready  to  accept  both 
information  and  training  that  come  out  of  certain  new  subjects  and 
accept  them  in  full  value  for  college  entrance.  I  think  our  experience 
is  that  we  do  not  get  in  some  of  these  new  subjects  the  same  degree 
of  academic  training  that  can  be  brought  with  some  of  the  older  and 
better  established  studies  like  language  and  mathematics,  but  we  do 
get,  on  the  other  hand,  a  lively  interest,  a  directness  and  an  inclination 
to  engage  in  actual  problems  of  life,  which  is  far  less  assured  witli 
those  subjects  whose  subject  matter  deals  largely  with  the  past  and 
whose  atmosphere  is  decidedly  ancient.  It  is,  you  see,  the  deliberate 
purpose  of  this  University  to  meet  the  high  schools  on  their  own 
ground.  It  is  true  some  of  the  schools  complain  of  University  domi- 
nance, but  that  is  rather  in  a  quantitative  than  in  a  qualitative  sense 
and  arises  from  our  attempt  to  deal  with  a  large  number  of  schools 
of  a  varying  degree  of  efficiency.  So  far  as  subject  niatter  is  con- 
cerned, however,  we  are  ready  to  accept  anything  which  the  schools 
do  jand  do  well. 

Our  experince  is,  so  far  as  I  am  able  to  state  it,  that  we  gain  in  the 
matter  of  interest  in  life  problems  and  ability  to  solve  them  far  more 
than  we  lose  in  academic  finish.  There  is  no  doubt  that  pure  scholar- 
ship in  the  old  sense  of  the  term  can  best  be  developed  with  old  and 
finished  subjects.  On  the  other  hand,  the  modern  American  is  to  be 
made  principally  out  of  new  subjects,  finished  off,  so  to  speak,  with 
the  old  ones.  We  try,  therefore,  to  combine  the  two  and  keep  as  close 
as  possible  to  the  life  and  heart  of  the  people. 

All  this  is  only  saying  in  a  round-about  way  that  my  interest  is 
entirely  with  the  high  schools  in  their  desire  to  so  conduct  their 
affg,irs  as  to  serve  the  varied  communities  which  support  them,  and 
it  will  remain  there  so  long  as  they  conscientiously  do  this  work. 
When  they  abandon  this  high  purpose  and  serve  only  as  preparatory 

15 


schools  for  colleges,  I  shall  lose  my  interest  in  them,  believing  that 
they  have  sacrificed  their  rights  as  they  have  their  opportunities. 

PROFESSOR  OTIS  W.  CALDWELL,  University  of  Chicago. 

Your  statement  is  fine  and  represents  the  attitude  that  is  being 
taken  by  many  of  our  progressive  high  schools  in  the  Central  States. 

The  High  School  has  come  to  perform  a  function  that  makes  it  an 
autonomous  body.  It  is  now  necessary  for  the  High  School  to  con- 
sider its  own  problems  almost  independently  of  the  College  and 
University.  High  Schools  need  to  educate  for  general  efficiency,  and 
pupils  who  go  to  College  need  this  kind  of  training  quite  as  much  as 
those  who  do  not  go.  The  lack  of  industrial  and  social  perspective 
on  the  part  of  college  graduates  should  be  corrected  by  a  High  School 
education  which  deals  with  those  matters  that  are  of  the  greatest 
value  to  the  largest  number. 

PROFESSOR    C.    RIBORG    MANN,    University    of    Chicago. 

I  am  very  much  interested  in  this  question  and  consider  your 
statement  the  best  that  I  have  yet  seen  on  the  subject.  There  is  a 
growing  sentiment  here  at  the  University  of  Chicago  in  favor  of  the 
ideas  which  you  present.  The  Federation  of  Secondary  School  Teachers, 
an  association  of  which  I  am  president,  has  a  committee  working  on 
this  same  subject.  There  are  about  22O0  members  of  the  associations 
In  the  Federation  scattered  all  over  the  country. 

J.  STANLEY  BROWN,  Superintendent  and  Principal,  Joliet  Township 
High    School,    Joliet. 

I  congratulate  your  committee  on  the  work  done,  and  assure  you 
that  all  movements  looking  to  the  complete  autonomy  of  the  public 
high  school  will  be  welcomed  by  the  teaching  bodies  of  the  whole 
country. 

JAMES  E.  ARMSTRONG,  Principal  Englewood  High  School,  Chicago. 

I  think  we  have  a  decided  advantage  over  your  schools  in  the 
east  in  regard  to  college  entrance  requirements.  I  am  in  entire  accord 
with  the  point  mentioned  in  the  circular  on  "Articulation  of  High 
School  and  College."  I  think  you  will  recognize  that  we  are  a  long 
stride  ahead  of  the  eastern  schools  in  all  these  relations.  We  have 
an  association  of  all  the  colleges,  universities,  and  secondary  schools 
in  the  North  Central  States.  A  committee  of  twenty  or  thirty  people 
from  these  various  institutions  make  a  definition  of  each  unit  of  the 

16 


college  requirements  for  admission;  and  in  this  way  the  high  school 
men  have  their  say  as  to  what  subjects  should  be  accepted  by  the  col- 
leges from  the  high  school  graduates. 


INDIANA 

WINTHROP  E.  STONE,  Ph.D.,  President  Purdue  University,  Lafayette. 

At  Purdue  we  are  entirely  in  sympathy  with  the  recognition,  as 
preparation  for  college,  of  a  wide  range  of  high  school  subjects  and 
we  are  chiefly  concerned  that  these  subjects  should  be  seriously  and 
thoroughly  taught  in  some  properly  arranged  sequence  and  relation, 
believing  that  when  the  high  school  pupil  has  mastered  them,  he  has 
in  effect  gained  the  necessary  mental  power  and  direction  to  enable 
him  to  do  collegiate  work. 

Since,  however,  Purdue  is  a  scientific  and  technological  institution, 
we  find  it  necessary  to  prescribe  certain  preparatory  studies  in  order 
that  our  entering  students  shall  be  able  to  go  on  with  our  own  courses. 
Of  the  fifteen  units  required  for  admission,  ten  are  thus  prescribed, 
namely,  English,  foreign  language,  mathematics,  science,  and  history. 
The  remaining  five  units  which  the  applicant  must  submit  may  be 
made  up  of  subjects  chosen  in  the  departments  of  English,  foreign 
language,  mathematics,  science,  history,  shop  work,  drawing,  domes- 
tic science,  agriculture,  and  commercial  courses  in  varying  weights. 

It  is  our  endeavor  in  arranging  these  requirements  to  meet  school 
conditions  and  to  accomplish  what  is  referred  to  in  your  circular; 
namely,  the  reduction  of  required  subjects  and  the  recognition  of  all 
standard  subjects  as  electives. 

M.    H.    STUART,    Assistant    Principal    Manual    Training    High    School, 

Indianapolis. 

Your  letter  and  circular  regarding  college  entrance  requirements 
which  was  mailed  to  Superintendent  Kendall,  has  been  forwarded  to 
me  for  reply.  Your  circular  is  very  interesting  and  bears  directly  on 
the  vital  high  school  difficulty.  Your  first  suggestion — that  the  colleges 
admit  all  of  the  graduates  from  standard  high  schools — would,  of 
course,  be  satisfactory  to  us  and  would  enable  the  high  school  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  people.  I  fear,  however,  that  the  college  people 
might  consider  this  a  little  too  radical,  since  the  high  schools  are  now 
developing  such  a  varied  course  of  study.  So,  from  a  practical  point 
of  view,  I  am  inclined  toward  your,  second  suggestion  of  reducing  the 
number  of  required  subjects  and  giving  recognition  to  all  of  the 
standard  lines  of  work  represented   in  the  modern  city  high  school. 

17 


This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  perfectly  feasible  and  in  line  with  the  future 
development  of  high  school  work,  I  would  favor  reducing  the  required 
subjects  to  English,  mathematics,  and  one  foreign  language,  including 
among  the  elective  subjects,  all  those  mentioned  in  your  circular.  In 
brief,  I  am  very  enthusiastic  regarding  your  second  plan  for  solving 
this  much  discussed  difficulty.  Any  assistance  that  we  may  be  able 
to  give  you  in  this  line  will  be  gladly  contributed. 


MARYLAND 

EUGENE   A.   NOBLE,   LL.   D.,   President   Goucher  College,   Baltimore. 

I  am  not  in  favor  of  having  the  colleges  prescribe,  and  command, 
and  rigidly  determine,  just  what  work  the  secondary  schools  must  do. 
I  have  objected  to  that  consistently.  It  is  entirely  unfair  for  any 
college  to  assume  that  its  requirements  must  give  character  to  all  the 
work  done  in  the  secondary  schools.  This  point  is  definite  in  my 
mind:  That  in  some  measure  the  secondary  schools  must  break  away 
from  what  the  old  colleges  imposed  upon  them  as  necessary  aspects 
of  activity. 

While  I  should  not  be  willing  to  forecast  the  educational  future, 
yet  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  what  we  shall  have  to  do  is  this: 
To  have  a  number  of  high  schools  that  pay  comparatively  little  atten- 
tion to  college  preparation,  and  some  other  schools  that  devote  them- 
selves to  that.  I  do  not  believe  the  colleges  will  admit  students  whose 
work  has  not  been  systematically  arranged  and  conducted  before  they 
are  admitted  as  Freshmen.  This  being  so,  I  can  see  nothing  for  it 
but  to  have  a  number  of  schools  devote  themselves  to  college  prepara- 
tion. 

What  Clark  College  is  trying  to  do,  I  suppose  we  are  all  trying  to  do, 
to  determine  in  advance  the  ability  of  a  student  to  do  the  work  of  a 
Freshman  year,  that  is  to  admit  the  students  "on  trial."  That  in  itself 
is  not  a  bad  plan.  As  far  back  as  five  years  ago  I  urged  such  a  plan 
upon  one  of  the  best  New  England  colleges.  I  should  not  be  averse  to 
having  it  tried  in  this  institution  from  schools  that  were  on  an 
approved  list  to  receive  students  who  have  graduated  and  perhaps  had 
made  a  grade  of  something  higher  than  mere  passing;  then  let  their 
work  for  the  first  half  year  in  college  determine  whether  they  were  able 
to  carry  college  tasks  successfully.  Perhaps  you  do  not  know  that  we 
have  a  list  of  alternative  entrance  requirements,  a  plan  which  was 
adopted  in  order  that  admission  to  our  Freshmen  class  might  adjust 
itself  to  the  inequalities  of  preparation  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
We  have  held  that  it  is  the  business  of  the  college  to  adjust  its  re- 

18 


quirements  for  admission  in  such  a  way  that  existing  inequalities  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  shall  be  met.  We  believe  that  entirely 
too  much  deference  has  been  paid  to  the  rigid  system  originating  in 
New  England  and  we  should  be  glad  to  see  certain  changes  and  modifi- 
cations made  in  order  to  satisfy  the  educational  requirements  of  the 
whole  country. 

So  far  as  the  work  of  this  college  is  concerned,  and  the  work  as  I 
imagine  it  of  some  other  colleges,  it  would  be  absurd  for  us  to  accept 
handicraft,  household  sciences,  bookkeeping,  machine  shop  practice, 
pattern  making,  forging,  stenography  and  typewriting,  etc.,  for  en- 
trance. I  could  wish  that  both  mechanical  and  freehand  drawing  were 
recognized,  and  if  there  were  -some  way  to  determine  the  unit  value 
of  music,  I  should  like  to  see  music  recognized.  To  determine  the 
unit  value  of  some  of  the  subjects  in  your  list  seems  to  me  to  be  nearly 
impossible.  If  all  the  high  schools  within  our  territory  taught  the 
same  subject  with  the  same  sincerity  of  method,  it  would  not  be  a 
difficult  matter  for  the  college  to  determine  what  it  ought  to  receive 
for  entrance. 

EDWARD  H.  GRIFFIN,  Dean  of  the  College  Faculty,  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  Baltimore. 

We  fully  appreciate  the  importance  of  this  subject,  and  the  difficulties  of 
the  problem  which  it  presents.  It  is  now  too  late  in  the  year  to  invite  an 
expression  of  opinion  by  our  academic  staff,  but  I  shall  be  glad  to  bring  the 
subject  up  for  discussion  next  year. 

I  am  personally  in  favor  of  accepting  properly  guarded  certificates,  from 
properly  accredited  high  schools,  for  admission  to  college.  I  am  also  in 
favor  of  accommodating  the  entrance  requirements,  as  far  as  possible,  to  the 
needs  of  the  high  school.  But  I  do  not  see  how  "vocational  subjects" — if 
I  may  use  that  term — can  be  substituted  for  the  standard  subjects,  to  any 
very  considerable  extent. 


MASSACHUSETTS 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT,  LL.D.,  President  Emeritus  Harvard  University. 

I  have  read  the  statement  regarding  the  articulation  of  high  school 
and  college  which  you  were  good  enough  to  send  me  under  date  of 
June  fourth.  It  discusses  a  very  large  question  in  public  secondary 
education,  and  I  am  free  to  confess  that  my  own  mind  is  not  clear 
as  to  the  best  interests  of  the  public  high  school.  In  Boston  and  Cam- 
bridge, where  there  have  long  been  free  Latin  schools  supported  by 
taxation,  the  solution  of  the  problem  has  been  very  different  from  that 
which  your  statement  suggests;  and  of  late  years  an  active  differenti- 

19 


ation  in  high  schools  has  been  going  on,  so  that  we  now  have  three 
well-marked  types  of  high  schools.  On  the  other  hand,  Harvard  College 
already  counts  for  admission  physics,  chemistry,  civil  government, 
anatomy,  zoology  and  economics,  freehand  and  projection  drawing, 
astronomy,  harmony  and  counterpoint,  various  kinds  of  shop  work,  and 
English  and  American  history.  On  the  whole,  this  is  a  more  compre- 
hensive list  than  that  which  stands  on  the  third  page  of  your  state- 
ment,— considering  that  Harvard  College  admits  no  girls. 

The  weak  points  of  your  statement  seem  to  me  to  be  the  follow- 
ing: (1)  You  call  attention  to  the  entrance  requirements  of  Clark 
C!ollege.  These  are  the  lowest  and  most  enfeebling  for  secondary 
schools  ever  made  in  New  England.  (2)  You  approve  the  certificate 
method  of  entrance,  which  has  had  a  most  deplorable  effect  on  the 
-quality  of  secondary  schools  all  over  the  country,  and  has  distinctly 
lowered  the  quality  of  the  entering  classes  of  the  American  universities 
in  general.  (3)  You  recommend  that  a  youth  whose  education  is  to 
be  prolonged  learn  but  one  foreign  language  up  to  his  nineteenth 
year.  This  doctrine  flies  in  the  face  of  all  experience  concerning  the 
right  age  to  learn  the  elements  of  foreign  languages.  The  policy  is 
right  for  children  whose  education  is  to  stop  at  eighteen,  or  earlier; 
but  it  is  utterly  wrong  for  those  whose  education  is  to  be  prolonged. 
(4)  You  seem  to  sanction  in  your  first  paragraph  the  absurd  antithesis 
between  "preparation  for  life"  and  "preparation  for  college."  "Prep- 
aration for  life"  in  this  sense  means  only  that  imperfect  preparation 
which  those  can  receive  who  must  begin  to  earn  money  at  eighteen 
years  of  age,  or  earlier.  "Preparation  for  college"  means  preparation 
for  a  training  subsequent  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  which  may  last 
from  three  to  seven  years.  College  education,  in  short,  is  much  more 
truly  and  effectively  preparation  for  life  than  any  other  form  of  edu- 
cation. 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  changes  you  advocate  amount  to  a  "re- 
organization of  secondary  education";  but  the  essence  of  the  re-organ- 
ization, in  my  opinion,  will  be  differentiation  among  high  schools  and 
greater  range  of  selection  among  studies  for  pupils. 

FREDERICK  W.  HAMILTON,  D.D.,  President  Tufts  College. 

I  doubt  if  any  serious  consideration  can  be  given  to  your  state- 
ment until  next  fall,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  matters  incident  upon 
the  closing  of  the  college  year.  Personally,  I  believe  that  a  closer 
articulation  between  the  high  school  and  college  is  desirable,  and  I 
am  personally  much  more  in  sympathy  than  are  most  of  my  colleagues 
on  the  Faculty  with  the  specific  changes  you  desire  to  make.  I  am 
by  no  means  certain,  however,  that  it  is  wise  to  attempt  to  lay  out 
a  high  school  course  in  such  a  way  that  it  may  hit  any  mark  which 

20 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

the  shooter  may  make  up  his  mind  he  would  like  to  bring  down  after 
the  projectile  has  left  the  gun.  While  I  believe  in  a  good  deal  of 
latitude  in  college  entrance  requirements  and  in  the  acceptance  of 
well  taught  subjects  of  almost  any  kind  for  admission  to  college,  it  does 
seem  to  me  quite  clear  that  the  aim  of  the  high  school  education  ought 
to  be  fairly  well  determined  upon  at  an  early  period  of  the  course. 

It  does  seem  to  me  that  a  boy  who  intends  to  be  a  bookkeeper  im- 
mediately on  graduation  from  the  high  school,  may  properly  direct  his 
high  school  course  rather  differently  from  a  boy  who  intends  to  be  a 
clergyman,  or  a  lawyer,  or  an  electrical  engineer.  In  a  word,  I  find 
myself  agreeing  with  your  definite  conclusions  much  more  fully  than 
with  your  premises. 

HARRY  A.  GARFIELD,  LL.D.,   President  Williams  College. 

I  enclose  herewith  a  letter  from  the  Dean  of  our  Faculty  whose 
position  as  Chairman  of  our  Committee  on  Admissions,  and  also  as  a 
member  of  the  College  Entrance  Examination  Board,  gives  his  judgment 
especial  weight.  I  am  in  accord  with  his  opinion.  So  far  from  aband- 
oning the  work  in  language,  I  should  much  prefer  that  students  enter- 
ing college  were  through  with  the  beginners'  work  in  Latin  and  both 
modern  languages,  or  with  Latin  and  Greek  and  one  modern  language, 
but  I  realize  that,  at  the  present  time,  it  would  appear  to  put  upon  the 
schools  too  great  a  burden  to  have  accomplished  so  much. 

FREDERICK  C.  FERRY,  Sc.  D.,  Dean  Williams  College. 

It  seems  to  me  that  "preparation  for  college"  and  ''preparation  for 
life"  are  not  necessarily  separate  and  incompatible.  I  am  not  at  all 
clear  that  the  boy  or  girl  who  is  to  go  no  further  than  the  high  school 
seriously  needs  "for  life"  courses  in  drawing,  advanced  chemistry, 
stenography  and  typewriting,  rather  than  Latin  and  Greek.  It  is  my 
own  belief  that  the  list  of  subjects  which  we  prescribe  for  admission 
to  college  are  at  least  equal  in  their  preparation  for  life  to  the  more 
modern  and  vocational  course  which  the  high  school  people  propose. 

Manifestly  Williams  College  cannot  undertake  to  carry  all  possible 
<<ubjects,  and  it  should  undertake  to  continue,  it  seems  to  me,  through 
the  Freshman  year  the  courses  which  have  been  taken  during  the 
latter  years  in  the  high  school.  If,  then,  Williams  College  were  to 
ttccept  any  and  every  graduate  from  the  high  schools  of  New  York 
City,  it  would  have  to  be  equipped  with  a  sufficient  teaching  staff 
to  give,  in  the  Freshman  year,  a  far  wider  range  of  subjects  than  is  at 
present  possible.  Plainly,  a  college  like  this  is  warranted  in  saying 
to  the  New  York  City  high  schools  that,  since  we  offer  only  the  degree 
in  Arts,  we  will  receive  here  those  boys  who  have  completed  the 
-classical  course  in  the  high  school.    Those  who  have  completed  a  science 

21 


course  of  the  old-fashioned  sort  can  go  to  institutions  where  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science  is  offered.  Others  may  perhaps  go  to  the 
business  college,  or  to  the  schools  of  finance.  It  does  not  seem  to  me 
that  any  particular  small  college  should  be  asked  to  receive  students 
presenting  so  great  a  variety  of  lines  of  preparation. 

The  argument  that  only  one  foreign  language  should  be  carried  in 
the  high  school  course  seems  to  me  particularly  weak.  Those  are  much 
better  days  for  doing  work  in  foreign  languages  than  the  college  days, 
and  the  educated  man  of  the  present  time  must  have  studied  more 
than  a  single  foreign  language,  unless  education  's  to  be  interpreted  in 
a  light  far  different  from  that  of  the  present-day  college.  It  seems  to 
me  that  a  program  would  be  of  greater  value  which  should  confine  the 
boys,  who  are  going  to  classical  colleges,  entirely  to  English,  Greek, 
Latin,  History,  Mathematics,  and  French  or  German,  rather  than  to 
include  any  of  the  long  list  of  subjects  presented  on  the  sheet  from 
the  High  School  Teachers  Association.  Household  science,  art,  shop 
work,  commercial  branches,  elementary  bookkeeping,  advanced  book- 
keeping, etc.,  etc.,  seem  to  me  to  have  no  appropriate  place  in  a  scheme 
of  education  leading  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  They  should 
be  required  of  none  of  the  students,  I  think,  who  are  going  to  college, 
and  the  time  necessary  for  a  thorough  grounding  in  three  foreign 
languages  and  mathematics  should  be  free  from  trespass  on  the  part 
of  such  subjects. 

KENYON  L.   BUTTERFIELD,   President   Massachusetts   Agricultural 
College,  Amherst. 

I  have  referred  your  printed  circular  concerning  the  articulation  of 
high  school  and  college  to  Professor  William  R.  Hart,  our  Professor  of 
Agricultural  Education,  and  a  member  of  our  Committee  on  Instruction, 
and  am  asking  him  to  have  the  matter  brought  up  for  discussion  and 
eventually  report  to  you. 

My  personal  view  is  that  in  a  college  like  this,  supported  at  State 
expense,  we  ought  to  articulate  very  intimately  with  all  the  high 
schools  of  the  State.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  present  entrance  re- 
quirements enable  us  to  do  this  fairly  well.  We  do  not  try  to  dictate  to 
the  high  schools  in  Massachusetts — indeed,  we  cannot. 

I  find  myself  inclined  to  sympathize  with  those  who  hold  that  the 
four-year  high  school  course,  passed  with  credit,  is  sufficient  entrance 
for  college.  I  see  two  or  three  practical  difficulties,  however.  One 
is  that  many  of  the  new  subjects  are  not  at  present  the  equivalent  of 
some  of  the  older  subjects  in  educational  value,  simply  because  they 
are  not  so  well  organized  nor  so  well  taught.  Again,  in  a  course  like 
ours,  which  is  made  up  of  required  subjects  during  the  first  two  years, 
and  which  leads  to  vocational  work  in  the  last  two  years,  there  might 

22 


be  some  diflSculty  in  arranging  work  for  men,  some  of  whom  enter 
with  one  subject  up  and  others  deficient  in  it. 

For  instance,  we  require  that  our  Freshmen  shall  have  had  a  year 
of  chemistry.  It  isn't  going  to  be  easy  to  handle  a  group  of  men, 
some  of  whom  have  had  perhaps  two  years  of  chemistry,  some  one 
year,  and  some  none.  This  difficulty  is  not  found  in  the  university 
with  a  wide-open  elective  system. 


DAVID  SNEDDEN,  State  Commissioner  of  Education. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  learn  that  so  large  a  high  school 
system  as  that  of  New  York  promises  to  take  concerted  action  in  this 
matter.  The  present  situation  is  most  objectionable,  and  especially  in 
the  restrictive  effects  it  is  having  on  true  high  school  development.  I 
trust  that  in  the  near  future  the  Massachusetts  high  schools  will  de- 
velop concerted  action  with  regard  to  admission  requirements  and  that 
the  high  schools  themselves  will  in  the  future  insist  on  saying  what 
they  can  accomplish  in  four  years  of  genuine  work,  leaving  the  colleges 
free  to  accept  or  reject  their  recommendations. 

Of  course  my  acquaintance  with  Western  institutions  makes  me 
favor  in  general  an  accrediting  system  whereby  the  school  as  a  whole, 
rather  than  its  teaching  particular  lines  of  work,  should  be  made  a 
basis  of  its  power  to  grant  recommendations  for  entrance  to  college. 
The  time  may  not  yet  be  ripe  for  the  developing  of  an  accrediting 
system  here,  but  I  think  it  is  much  more  possible  than  many  critics 
assume. 


WILLIAM    ORR,    Deputy    State    Commissioner    of    Public    Instruction. 

The  results  of  my  experience  and  observation  warrant  me  in  giv- 
ing hearty  endorsement  to  the  propositions  you  make  as  to  the  nature 
and  scope,  aim  and  purpose  of  high  school  work.  It  is  a  hopeful  sign 
that  high  school  teachers  are  asserting  themselves  and  insisting  that 
the  high  school  itself  should  regulate  and  determine  its  courses  and 
methods  of  instruction.  When  the  public  secondary  school  teachers 
of  the  country  take  the  same  stand  that  the  high  school  teachers  of 
New  York  have  taken  in  this  matter,  the  vexing  question  of  the  relation 
of  the  high  school  to  the  college  will  be  summarily  settled  and  no 
such  question  will  exist. 

STRATTON  D.  BROOKS,  City  Superintendent,  Boston, 

The  projKJsed  requirements  for  admission  to  college  as  outlined 
in  the  circular  sent  me  inclosed  with  your  letter  of  May  28,  are  prac- 


tically  identical  with  the  requirements  as  they  have  been  in  operation 
in  the  University  of  Illinois  for  several  years.  While  I  was  high 
school  inspector  for  that  University,  I  had  occasion  to  know  that  these 
requirements  worked  very  satisfactorily,  both  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  high  schools  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  University.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  even  New  England  may  in  time  see  the  reasonable- 
ness of  your  request. 

SHERBURN    C.    HUTCHINSON,    City    Superintendent,    Andover. 

I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  your  statement.  I  believe  that  the 
tendency  is  in  the  direction  indicated  and  I  hope  to  see  the  movement 
hastened. 

WILBUR  F.   GORDY,   City   Superintendent,    Springfield. 

I  have  read  with  the  keenest  interest  the  statements  of  your  asso- 
ciation. I  heartily  endorse  the  point  of  view  taken  by  your  com- 
mittee. I  believe  you  are  right  in  calling  for  what,  as  you  say,  is 
practically  a  re-organization  of  secondary  education.  The  time  has 
come  when  the  colleges  must  modify  their  entrance  requirements  in 
the  interests  of  a  saner  and  broader  preparation  for  life. 

FREDERIC    ALLISON    TUPPER,    Head    Master   Brighton    High   School, 

Brighton,  Boston. 

1.  I  believe  that  every  course  in  the  high  school  should  be  given 
a  value  for  admission  to  college. 

2.  I  believe  that  the  quality  of  the  work  done  should  have  great 
weight. 

3.  I  believe  that  fewer  subjects  better  prepared  would  be  advan- 
tageous to  college,  school,  and  all  concerned. 

ALBERT   PERRY    WALKER,    Headmaster,    Girls   High    School, 
Boston. 

I  have  been  much  interested  in  your  circular  on  articulation  in 
high  school  and  college,  and  the  reorganization  of  secondary  educa- 
tion.    In  general,  I  agree  with  the  statements  therein  made. 

In  reply  to  your  question,  "What  would  be  the  objections  to  the 
acceptance  by  colleges  of  high  school  graduates,"  I  would  say  that  I 
believe  that  principle  should  be  applied  only  to  high  schools  approved 
by  the  colleges  after  special  investigation,  according  to  a  system 
such  as  prevails  among  the  New  England  colleges  and  high  schools. 

I  believe  in  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  required  subjects.  I  do 
not  believe  in  the  recognizing  of  "Standard  Subjects"  for  admission 

d4 


to  college.  I  believe  that  college  requirements  should  be  confined  to 
subjects  necessary  to  the  pursuance  of  an  advanced  education.  For 
that  reason,  I  do  not  believe  that  such  subjects  as  household  science 
or  stenography  and  typewriting  should  be  recognized  for  college  ad- 
mission. What  I  do  believe  is  that  the  essential  subjects  should  alone 
be  required,  and  the  college  requirements  should  be  so  limited  as  to 
demand  only  one-half  or  two-thirds  of  the  pupil's  high  school  time, 
leaving  him  free  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  time  on  any  subject  he 
chooses,  whether  it  be  stenography  or  household  science  or  music. 
I  feel  especially  strongly  that  it  is  undesirable  to  require  more 
than  one  foreign  language  because,  in  my  judgment,  the  thorough- 
going, continuous,  intensive  study  of  a  single  language  for  four  years 
bears  much  more  fruit  than  the  distribution  of  the  pupil's  time 
among  several  languages. 

CHARLES    I.  RICE,   Director  of  Music,   Worcester,   Mass. 

and  President  of  the  Music  Section  of  the  N.  E.  A. 

The  statement  of  the  case  is  admirable  and  to  the  point.  The 
music  end  of  it  has  received  a  good  deal  of  attention  during  the  past 
five  years  in  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Eastern  Educational  Con- 
ference, which  are  held  in  the  different  colleges,  and  it  is  encouraging 
that  your  High  School  Teachers'  Association  is  so  fully  interested. 
I  am  glad  you  mention  Clark  College.  President  Sanford  made  a  mas- 
terly plea  in  his  inaugural  address  for  this  liberal  attitude,  and  unless 
I  am  much  mistaken  most  of  the  distinguished  body  of  college  presi- 
dents who  attended  the  inaugural  ceremonies  envied  him  his  freedom 
from  the  trammels  of  cut-and-dried  traditions. 


MICHIGAN 

DAVID   MACKENZIE,   Principal   Detroit  Central   High   School, 

and  President  Secondary  Department  of  the  N.  E.  A. 

I  am  most  heartily  in  favor  of  the  movement  toward  the  complete 
freedom  of  the  High  School.  I  shall  be  greatly  interested  in  any  action 
the  Secondary  Department  may  takej  in  the  matter  of  freeing  the 
High  School  from  college  denomination. 


MINNESOTA 

CYRUS  NORTHROP,  LL.D.,  President  University  of  Minnesota. 

I  received  a  few  days  ago  your  communication,  and  I  have  read 
it  with  interest  and  with  substantial  agreement  with  the  views  there- 
in expressed.    As  showing  the  attitude  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, 

25 


T  will  say  that  of  the  subjects  which  you  enumerate  as  desirable  to  be 
recognized  by  college  entrance  credits,  Minnesota  accepts  without  ques- 
tion, Botany,  Zoology,  Physiography,  Modern  History,  Civics,  Econom- 
ics, and  Commercial  Geography,  Minnesota  also  accepts  the  following 
when  the  subjects  named  are  part  of  a  definite  four  year  course  of 
study : 

Mechanical  and  Free  Hand  Drawing. 

Carpentry,  Pattern,  Forging,  Machine  Shop  Practice. 

Commercial  Law, 

Stenography  and  Typewriting. 

Elementary  Bookkeeping. 

Advanced  Bookkeeping  and  Accounting. 

Household  Science  and  Art. 
Not  accepted:     Music. 

"Applied  Physics,  Advanced  Chemistry,  and  Household  Chemistry" 
are  not  specifically  named,  but  they  are  practically  accepted  under 
Household  Science  and  Art,  etc. 


MISSOURI 

HOWARD  A.  GASS,  State  Superintendent  of  Education. 

We  have  already  made  considerable  progress  along  the  lines  you 
suggest  in  your  letter.  Nearly  all  of  the  first  class  western  colleges 
accept  work  in  manual  training  and  domestic  science,  mechanical 
drawing,  agriculture,  etc.  Some  of  them  accept  work  in  music  and 
bookkeeping.  I  am  very  strongly  in  favor  of  the  movement  toward 
rationalizing  courses  of  study  for  colleges  and  secondary  schools. 

JAMES    M.    GREENWOOD,    City    Superintendent,    Kansas    City. 

I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  movement  to  limit  and  to 
rationalize  college  entrance  requirements,  and  to  give  notice  that  the 
high-school  teachers,  except  for  those  pupils  who  expect  to  enter 
college  or  university,  shall  not  be  dominated  by  the  scrappy  bits  of 
subjects  which  college  committees  formulate.  The  high  schools  exist 
for  and  within  themselves,  and  not  as  fattening  pens  to  prepare  for 
college  or  university  enrollment.  The  effect  on  the  teaching  in  high 
schools  is  to  narrow  and  restrict  the  work,  because  everything  is  cut 
and  dried  as  requirements  demand  it  shall  be  done,  without  regard 
to  the  needs  of  the  vast  majority  who  will  never  go  to  college.  The 
motto  of  the  high  schools  should  be  to  fit  for  life  first,  and  for  college 
incidentally. 

26 


NEBRASKA 

SAMUEL  AVERY,   Ph.D.,   Chancellor  University   of  Nebraska. 

Having  received  my  education  in  the  West  and  in  German}^,  it 
strikes  me  at  first  reading  as  incredible  that  there  should  be  serious 
opposition  to  any  of  the  suggestions  which  you  make.  In  fact,  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  statement  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive,  sane,  and 
practical  reports  on  the  subject  that  I  have  ever  seen.  I  can  most 
heartily  endorse  it  practically  in  toto. 

E.    C.    BISHOP,    State    Superintendent    of   Public    Instruction. 

I  heartily  approve  the  ideas  set  forth  in  your  statement.  You  are  on 
the  right  road  to  an  adjustment  which  will  mean  much  for  better 
results  in  high  school  training  and  also  for  the  encouragement  of  more 
high  school  graduates  to  continue  their  education.  The  University  of 
Nebraska  has  already  taken  an  advanced  step  in  accreditment  of  all 
work  well  done  in  high  schools,  which  I  believe  will  better  conditions 
to  a  great  extent. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

E.  W.  BUTTERFIELD,  Principal  Dover  High  School. 

I  agree  thoroughly  with  your  statements  and  believe  that  all  standard 
high  school  subjects  should  be  credited  by  the  colleges.  In  particular, 
stenography,  typewriting,  and  bookkeeping  are  with  us  so  thoroughly 
established  that  they  are  in  all  ways  an  equivalent  of  subjects  now 
recognized  by  the  colleges. 

In  New  Hampshire  advanced  American  history  and  civics  is  a  re- 
quired study  for  all  pupils  of  the  senior  year.  It  is  a  thorough  course 
with  daily  recitations.  We  are  very  anxious  that  this  should  receive 
good  college  credit,  and  it  has  been  so  accepted  by  most  of  the  colleges 
of  our  region.  Smith,  Wellesley,  and  Mt.  Holyoke,  however,  refuse  to 
accept  it  as  yet  as  elementary.  If  we  can  in  any  way  work  with  you 
in  accomplishing  the  purpose  of  your  resolutions  you  may  look  for  our 
co-operation. 

NEW  JERSEY 

ALEXANDER    C.    HUMPHREYS,    LL.D.,    President    Stevens    Institute 
of   Technology,    Hoboken. 

We  have  no  right  to  map  out  the  general  scheme  of  education  with 
the  college  as  the  goal.     In  this  connection,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 

27 


the  high  schools  are  presumably  preparing  for  college,  we  find  many 
graduates  from  high  schools  who  are  not  able  to  meet  our  require- 
ments, even  in  the  fundamental  studies.  Personally,  I  would  prefer,  if  it 
were  necessary  to  make  a  choice^  that  an  applicant  for  admission  should  come 
to  us  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  fundamentals  even  if  this  involved  weak- 
ness in  other  subjects. 

J.  M.  GREEN,  Principal  New  Jersey  State  Nornmal  and  Model  Schools 

and  President  of  the  Association  of  Colleges  and  Preparatory 

Schools  of  the  Middle  States  and  Maryland. 

I  am  in  full  accord  with  your  movement  to  bring  about  better  articu- 
lation of  the  high  school  and  the  college. 

The  natural  educational  condition  is  to  have  the  student  go  from 
the  high  school  course  best  adapted  to  him  directly  to  a  college  in 
which  the  course  is  arranged  with  reference  to  the  work  he  has  already 
taken  up,  and  there  should  be  the  closest  and  most  cordial  meeting 
between  the  high  school  and  the  college  in  order  to  accomplish  this 
end. 

I  do  not  feel  that  the  High  School  Teachers  Associations  are  taking 
all  conditions  fully  into  account  in  their  present  mode  of  procedure. 
There  are  a  number  of  colleges  that  are  quite  willing  to  comply  with 
their  conditions.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  high  schools  should  accept 
the  proffer  of  these  colleges  and  advise  tneir  pupils  to  go  to  them 
rather  than  hold  off  in  an  effort  to  bring  all  colleges  to  do  what  sonie 
can  do. 

My  own  contact  with  the  colleges  has  convinced  me  that  each  private 
college  has  its  own  particular  problems  to  work  out,  problems  involv- 
ing its  sources  of  financial  support,  etc.,  and  that  very  many  of  the 
colleges  are  not  at  liberty  to  do  exactly  what  they  might  regard  as 
educationally  the  best. 

I  do  not  think  the  ready  admission  of  high  school  graduates  to  the 
college  courses  worth  while  unless  the  colleges  standardize  and  not 
receive  students  who  do  not  come  up  to  standard. 

A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of  the  colleges  will  reveal 
the  fact  that  there  are  many  of  them  that  are  not  at  liberty  to  stand- 
ardize on  their  entrance  conditions.  This  being  the  case  it  is  fruitless 
for  the  time  being  to  use  an  effort  to  have  such  colleges  receive 
students  from  high  schools  who  have  covered  a  given  course  in  which 
the  commercial  branches  or  any  other  branches  other  than  those 
directly  preparatory  to  college  have  played  a  part  and  are  claiming 
recognition  simply  as  educational  values. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  high  school  people  ask  that  the  colleges  do 
something  for  them,  and  that  when  some  college  comes  forward  and 
says  it  will  do  it  the  high  school  people  turn  and  say,  "We  will  not 

38 


accept  your  gift  unless  every  one  else  comes  to  our  conditions  and 
does  the  same  thing,  no  matter  what  local  problems  are  in  the  way." 
This  certainly  is  a  great  deal  to  expect,  especially  where  the  college 
is  supported  by  private  enterprise  and  is  giving  the  student  more 
than  he  pays  for. 

Furthermore,  it  is  true  that  the  high  schools  feel  the  force  of 
popular  influence  in  their  courses  of  study,  but  it  is  not  always  true 
that  this  popular  influence  should  be  accepted  without  modification. 
I  recall  very  well  when  the  popular  influence  was  entirely  against  the 
study  of  foreign  languages,  the  slogan  being  "Know  your  own  language 
first."  What  would  have  been  the  result  had  the  colleges  yielded  to  tftls 
popular  demand? 

There  is  much  in  the  popular  curriculum  that  is  very  valuable;  there 
is  that  in  it  which  is  decidedly  ephemeral,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the 
most  reliable  standards  of  education. 

CHARLES  J.  BAXTER,  State  Superintendent  Public  Instruction. 

This  Department  is  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  work  you  are 
trying  to  do  in  regard  to  the  regulation  of  high  school  requirements  by 
colleges  and  will  be  glad  to  assist  your  organization  in  any  way  in 
our  power. 

RANDALL  SPAULDING,    City   Superintendent,    Montclair. 

The  above  statement,  and  its  main  conclusions,  command  my 
hearty  approval;  also  the  approval  of  the  Principal  of  the  high  school, 
Mr.  H.  W.  Dutch,  and  the  Vice-principal,  Miss  Elsie  M.  Dwyer. 

VERNON  L.  DAVEY,  Superintendent,  East  Orange. 

In  reply,  I  would  say  that  I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with  any 
movement  which  will  tend  to  a  wise  modification  of  the  entrance  re- 
quirements of  the  colleges. 

While  I  am  not  certain  that  I  should  endorse  the  definite  list  of 
subjects  and  units  named  on  page  3  of  your  circular,  I  am  strongly 
of  the  opinion  that  credit  should  be  given  for  almost  any  well  planned 
and  properly  handled  high  school  subject.  I  am  also  of  the  opinion 
that  the  college  requirement  of  three  languages  besides  English  is  un- 
wise and  unprofitable  and  should  be  modified. 

NEW  MEXICO 

JAMES  E.  CLARK,  Territorial  Superintendent  Public  Instruction. 

Allow  me  to  say  that  I  sympathize  entirely  with  the  movement  for 
reorganization  of  secondary  education,  and  I  believe  that  you  will  find 
upon  examination  of  the  catalogue  of  the  University  of  New  Mexico, 

29 


that  the  entrance  requirements  are  practically  such  as  you  would  like 
to  see  excepting  in  the  matter  of  placing  on  the  elective  list  the  sub- 
ject of  music.  Great  care  is  taken  in  admitting  students  offering  some 
of  the  other  subjects,  but  I  believe  it  will  be  found  that  whenever 
subjects  are  found  to  have  been  well  taught  under  capable  instructors, 
credit  is  given  also  for  such  subjects  towards  admission. 

NEW  YORK 

GEORGE   P.    BRISTOL,   Chairman   Committee   on  Relations   to 
Secondary    Schools,    Cornell    University. 

I  hope  that  we  may  be  able,  working  together,  to  make  more  pro- 
gress in  the  direction  in  which  you  are  working.  I  assure  you  of  my 
personal  sympathy  with  the  movement  your  committee  represents. 

ADAM  LEROY   JONES,   Chairman  Committee   on  Undergraduate 
Admissions,  Columbia  Universty. 

As  you  are  aware,  we  allow  a  wide  range  of  choice  among  subjects  to  those 
who  are  candidates  for  admission  to  Columbia  College.  We  should  not  be 
ready  to  accept  all  of  the  suggestions  which  your  committee  has  made  but 
we  do  regard  them  as  valuable  and  we  sincerely  hope  that  the  relations 
between  the  college  and  the  secondary  school  will  be  such  as  to  serve  the 
best  interests  of  both. 

JAMES  M.  TAYLOR,  LL.D.,  President  Vassar  College. 

I  regard  this  matter  as  of  prime  importance,  and  I  shall  ask  the 
attention  of  the  Faculty  to  it. 

CHARLES  H.  LEVERMORE,  Ph.D.,  President  Adelphi  College, 

Brooklyn. 

It  will  not  be  possible  for  our  Faculty  to  give  serious  consideration 
to  the  propositions  contained  in  your  circular  before  some  time  next 
fall.  I  believe  that  the  formal  action  of  the  Faculty  upon  your  sug- 
gestions is  likely  to  be  favorable.  The  regulations  which  you  desire 
concerning  entrance  requirements  in  languages  have  been  in  force  in 
this  College  ever  since  it  was  chartered.  I  am  personally  in  favor  of 
allowing  credit  for  all  subjects  specified  on  the  last  page  of  your 
circular,  and  I  only  regret  that  you  and  your  associates  did  not  pro- 
pose a  radical  change  in  the  present  system  of  entrance  requirements 
in   English. 

CHARLES  P.  NORTON,  Chancellor  University  of  Buffalo. 

We  are  trying  to  get  our  collegiate  department  for  the  University 
of  Buffalo,  and  hope  to  do  so  in  the  near  future.     In  the  meantime, 

30 


I  may  say  that  I  heartily  agree  with  the  views  expressed  in  your  cir- 
cular letter. 

REV.    E.    L.    CAREY,    CM.,    President    St.    Johns    College,    Brooklyn. 

You  will  find  that  we  credit  for  entrance  many  of  the  subjects 
mentioned  in  your  statement.  We  would  be  quite  willing  to  give 
reasonable  credit  for  the  remaining  subjects,  provided  they  were  classed 
as  electives. 

Without  presuming  to  pronounce  on  the  question  of  fact  involved, 
may  I  venture  to  say  that  I  do  not  admit  a  distinction  between  "prep- 
aration for  college"  and  "preparation  for  life."  Rational  preparation 
for  college  is  preparation  for  life.  At  best,  however,  preparation  for 
college  is  an  incomplete,  and  from  a  certain  view  point,  an  inadequate 
preparation  for  life. 

I  hope  the  day  will  never  come  when  one  class  of  students  will  be 
prepared  "for  college,"  and  another  "for  life."  Prepare  them  all 
in  a  rational  way  for  life  and  those  who  are  fit  will  be  adequately 
prepared  for  college. 

RUSH  RHEES,  President  Rochester  University. 

First,  I  am  entirely  convinced  that  college  entrance  requirements 
should  be  defined  by  the  colleges  in  conjunction  with  the  representa- 
tives of  the  secondary  school  a;nd  on  the  basis  of  a  frank  recognition 
of  the  proper  function  of  the  secondary  schools. 

Secondly,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  colleges  can  fulfill  their  mission 
in  our  educational  system  if  the  secondary  schools  adopt  it  as  their 
aim  to  be  exclusively  finishing  schools  without  regard  to  the  purpose 
of  the  students  to  follow  education  further  in  a  higher  institution. 
Nor  do  I  believe  that  the  secondary  schools  will  fulfill  their  proper 
function  as  tax  supported  institutions  unless  they  clearly  recognize 
as  definite  relation  to  the  institutions  above  them  as  they  do  to  the 
schools  below  them.  The  situation  in  Germany  is  distinctly  to  the 
point,  for  there  gymnasium,  real-gymnasium  and  ober-real-schule  are 
definitely  organized  with  a  view  to  the  preparation  of  students  for 
work  in  universities.  It  may  readily  be  regarded  as  unwise  for  our 
secondary  schools  to  follow  this  German  example,  but  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  would  be  still  more  unwise  for  them  to  ignore  the  fact 
that  secondary  education  holds  a  vital  relation  in  subject  matter  as 
well  as  in  extent  to  higher  education. 

Thirdly,  I  do  not  believe  that  it  would  be  advantageous  in  the 
interests  of  our  national  education  to  confine  the  student's  linguistic 
study  in  our  public  high  schools  to  one  foreign  language  pursued  for 
four  years.     The  high  school  period  is  the  natural  time  for  the  ac- 

31 


quisition  of  languages  and  if  students  are  to  become  acquainted  with 
more  than  one  foreign  language  as  educated  men  and  women  it  is 
important  that  they  should  begin  that  work  at  least  as  early  as  the 
high  school  period. 

Fourthly,  many  of  the  subjects  mentioned  by  you  as  suitable  to  be 
recognized  by  the  college  for  entrance  credits  have  little  or  no  sig- 
nificance, from  the  point  of  view  of  the  college,  as  a  preparatory  train- 
ing. Many  of  them,  however,  have  such  significance,  particularly  for 
certain  courses  in  college.  I  believe  that  the  college  should  have  an 
open  mind  with  reference  to  every  development  of  interest  in  the  high 
schools  and  should  be  as  liberal  as  possible  in  the  extension  of  gh- 
trance  credit  to  high  school  subjects.  It  is  increasingly  clear  to  me, 
however,  that  preparation  for  college,  whatever  may  be  said  concern- 
ing the  preparation  for  life,  can  not  properly  be  measured  quantita- 
tively. Four  years  spent  upon  a  very  great  variety  of  different  sub- 
jects, each  studied  for  one  year  or  possibly  less,  do  not  have  at  all 
the  same  educational  value  from  the  point  of  view  of  preparation  for 
later  work  that  is  furnished  by  the  same  length  of  time  devoted  to  a 
smaller  number  of  subjects  each  pursued  for  two  or  three  or  four 
years.  The  same  consideration  is  true  and  is  coming  to  be  more  and 
more  clearly  recognized  of  college  education.  Three  years  spent  upon 
one  subject,  whether  science  or  literature  or  history,  is  of  vastly  more 
value  for  education  than  three  years  spent  upon  three  different  sub- 
jects. 

The  college  might  reasonably  reduce  its  specific  prescriptions  for 
preparatory  training,  and  leave  a  margin  for  the  secondary  schools 
to  fill  as  they  deem  best.  I  think  the  college  should  demand  a  com- 
pleted secondary  school  course,  including  for  any  given  college  course 
what  the  college  regards  as  an  irreducible  minimum  of  specific  prepara- 
tion for  that  course.     But  that  is  far  from  your  proposal. 

EDWARD    E.    HALE,    JR.,    Secretary    Education    Committee, 
Union  College. 

The  committee  considered  the  matter  carefully,  and  with  the  full 
appreciation  of  many  of  the  difficulties  which  the  association  feels  in 
the  correct  articulation  of  school  and  college  work.  The  committee  did 
not  feel,  however,  that  it  could  consider  definitely  the  question  of 
admitting  without  examinations  the  graduates  of  the  New  York  City 
high  schools.  Such  a  consideration  would  be  largely  theoretical,  for 
few  of  our  students  come  from  New  York  City. 

The  committee  also  found  it  impossible  to  agree  with  the  views  of 
the  association  in  the  matter  of  election  or  option  at  entrance. 
Although   our   entrance   requirements   recognize   a   certain   amount  of 

32 


election  in  several  of  the  courses,  the  committee  felt  itself  quite  un- 
ready for  any  statement  of  opinion  upon  the  general  question  as 
outlined  in  your  letter. 

ANDREW  S.   DRAPER,  LL.D.,   State  Commissioner  of  Education. 

The  subject  is  one,  as  we  all  know,  with  endless  ramifications, 
about  which  a  great  deal  has  been  said,  and  more  will  be  said,  and  I 
cannot  therefore  undertake  in  this  connection  to  discuss  details.  I 
may  say,  however,  that  I  have  read  your  printed  circular  carefully, 
and  in  a  general  way  I  feel  strongly  sympathetic  with  the  views  of 
your  committee.  I  think  the  colleges  are  too  exacting  in  their  re- 
quirements for  admission,  and  particularly  that  they  lay  too  much 
stress  upon  knowledge  of  what  is  in  books  and  too  little  upon  the  power 
to  do  things.  Moreover,  I  think  that  the  colleges  should  receive  the 
graduates  of  recognized  high  schools  and  give  them  their  opportunity 
to  show  whether  or  not  they  can  do  college  work. 

FRANK  ROLLINS,  Ph.D.,  Second  Assistant  Commissioner  of  Education. 

I  am  in  sympathy  with  the  general  recommendations  of  the  report 
of  your  committee,  and  I  can  see  no  reason  why  the  colleges 
should  not  agree  to  accept  for  admission  worthily  accomplished  work 
along  any  of  the  lines  suggested  in  your  report,  provided,  of  course, 
that  the  colleges  should  still  insist  upon  thorough  and  adequate  prep- 
aration in  certain  subjects  that  are  fundamental  to  the  successful  pur- 
suit of  college  work.  Among  these  subjects,  which  would  stand  in  the 
nature  of  absolute  requirements,  I  should  include  English,  elementary 
algebra,  plane  geometry,  American  history  and  civics,  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, and  at  least  one  unit  in  science.  With  these  as  a  foundation  the 
colleges  may  well  afford  to  permit  a  very  wide  range  of  electives  in 
making  up  the  rest  of  the  entrance  requirements. 

ARTHUR  D.  DEAN,  Chief,  Division  of  Trades  Schools,  New  York 
State  Education  Department. 

I  am  primarily  interested  in  the  development  of  trades  schools  or  courses. 
These  have  absolutely  no  reference  to  the  college  entrance  requirements.  I 
advocate  separate  industrial  or  trades  schools,  or  at  least  separate  and 
distinct  courses  within  existing  high  schools.  Industrial  education  is  a 
system  of  education  which  is  to  be  apart  from  any  dominations  of  colleges. 
It  should  mean  more  than  the  introduction  of  shopwork  or  drawing  in  the 
existing  high  schools.  There  is  a  bigger  question  involved,  that  of  the 
correlation  of  mathematics,  English  and  history  with  industrial  and  com- 
mercial activites.  Of  course  all  pupils  of  industrial  schools  or  courses 
should  have  mathematics,  history  and  English,  but  the  subject-matter 
should  be  of  a  different  order.     The  mathematics  of  a  milling  machine  has 

88 


greater  disciplinary  value  to  a  boy  that  is  using  a  milling  machine  in  a 
school  shop  than  has  the  present  mathematics  \\hen  it  is  unrelated  to  the 
manual  training  that  the  boy  may  be  taking.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
science  work.  Note  the  development  of  Chemistry  in  the  daily  life  of  our 
people — the  chemistry  of  soils,  the  kitchen,  the  shop,  and  compare  the 
educational  possibilities  of  such  chemistry  with  the  "alchemy"  that  we 
teach  today. 

Personally  I  do  not  care  where  they  put  this  industrial  education.  It  may 
be  in  the  high  school,  in  a  separate  school  or  in  a  factory.  The  only  point 
that  needs  consideration  is  so  to  work  out  the  scheme  that  it  will  reach  the 
pupils  that  need  it  and  benefit  them.  I  am  simply  interested  in  having  boys 
and  girls  kept  in  school,  given  what  they  need,  fitted  for  their  work  and 
sent  into  the  world  as  more  efficient  men  and  women. 

If  the  colleges  will  not  give  way  to  the  needs  of  the  high  school  situation, 
then  let  us  have  two  courses  in  our  high  schools— one  based  on  college 
requirements  and  the  other  based  upon  the  requirements  of  industrial  and 
commercial  life,  and  once  established,  the  latter  course  will  have  a  healthy 
reaction  upon  the  older  course. 

WILLIAM  H.  MAXWELL,  LL.D.,  City  Superintendent,  New  York  City. 

I  endorse  this  statement  issued  by  the  High  School  Teachers  Asso- 
ciation, and  I  congratulate  your  association  on  the  position  it  has  taken. 
I  say  this,  however,  without  prejudice  to  my  right  to  change  my  opin- 
ion on  the  details  of  your  plan,  should  I  see  fit  to  do  so  on  more  mature 
consideration. 

I  regret  that  your  Association  did  not  see  fit  to  ask  for  a  reduction 
in  the  number  of  texts  to  be  read  in  Latin  and  in  English  for  admission 
to  college. 

ARTHUR  S.  SOMERS,  Member  of  the  High  School  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  New  York  City. 

I  have  your  letter  of  the  19th  instant  and  note  with  very  great 
interest  the  effort  that  your  association  is  making  to  have  the  require- 
ments for  college  entrance  modified  and  placed  upon  a  more  reasonable 
basis. 

I  am  sure  that  this  effort  must  win  the  applause  of  everyone  in- 
terested in  the  matter  of  college  education.  Of  course,  I  have  not 
had  a  great  deal  of  experience  in  such  matters,  not  being  a  college 
man,  but  I  cannot  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  feeling  is  growing 
among  business  men  generally,  that  the  colleges  are  not  making  the 
most  of  their  opportunity  to  fit  men  for  active  participation  in  the 
affairs  of  life,  and  this,  I  believe,  is  due  largely  to  the  restrictions 
with  which  the  entrance  is  surrounded.    It  does  seem  to  me  that  if  a 

34 


proper  and  more  democratic  view  were  taken  of  the  equipment  nec- 
essary for  college  entrance,  it  would  result  in  a  brighter  and  more 
generally  useful  man  at  the  end  of  his  college  course. 

This  is  not  the  time  to  follow  the  lead  of  such  a  discussion,  but 
I  cannot  refrain  from  this  brief  expression  as  my  reason  for  being 
largely  in  favor  of  the  effort  of  your  organization.  No  criticism  of 
the  college  is  intended.  On  the  contrary,  I  would  that  every  yoiing 
man,  as  far  as  possible,  might  have  the  advantage  of  college  training 
of  the  right  sort;  but,  unfortunately,  I  find  in  my  experience  many  ool- 
lege  men  who  are  seriously  handicapped  because  they  have  been  edu- 
cated over  the  heads  of  the  actual  necessities  of  life. 


CHARLES  F.  HARPER,  Principal  Syracuse  Central  High  School, 

New   York. 

Superintendent  Blodgett  has  asked  me  to  answer  your  letter  to 
him  when  I  answer  the  one  you  wrote  me.  I  have  carefully  considered 
the  statement  of  your  "Committee  on  Conference  with  the  Colleges" 
and  find  that  I  agree  heartily  with  it  for  the  most  part.  I  believe  that 
classes  in  a  subject  should  be  taught  the  same  subject  matter  whether 
they  are  preparing  for  college  or  for  life.  No  one  can  tell  in  advance 
what  a  pupil  will  do  after  graduation. 

Clark  College  has  surely  set  a  splendid  example  to  the  other  col- 
leges in  the  matter  of  admission  requirements.  Any  pupil  who  has 
completed  a  carefully  outlined  course  of  study  in  a  high  grade  high 
school  should  find  no  difficulty  in  entering  any  college.  A  reduction  of 
the  so-called  required  subjects,  with  greater  freedom  in  the  choice  of 
electives  that  could  be  offered,  together  with  the  recognition  of  any 
subjects  that  are  definite  and  well-taught  in  high  schools,  would 
remove  the  difficulties  which  are  found  at  the  present  time.  I  question 
whether  some  subjects  such  as  typewriting  should  be  included  in  the 
list  for  recognition. 

There  seems  to  be  a  general  tendency  on  the  part  of  all  the  best 
colleges  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  high  school  for  modified  entrance 
requirements  whenever  they  appear  just.  I  believe  that  your  recom- 
mendations will  be  gladly  received  by  the  colleges  and  recognized  by 
greater  freedom  in  the  elective  subjects  which  may  be  offered  in  the 
future. 


HENRY  H.  DENHAM,  Principal  Syracuse  Techincal  High  School. 

So  far  as  I  have  had  time  to  consider  the  matter  I  most  heartily 
indorse  your  statement. 

35 


CHARLES  R.  RICHARDS,  Director,  Cooper  Union. 

While  I  do  not  feel  that  manual  training  in  general  high  school 
courses  is  an  element  of  serious  importance,  I  think  that  a  movement 
towards  a  broader  system  of  accrediting  high  school  work  on  the  part 
of  the  colleges  is  in  the  right  direction.  It  seems  to  me,  however, 
that  this  is  a  matter  that  has  its  limitations,  and  that  in  the  future 
development  of  specialized  vocational  high  schools,  special  types  of 
secondary  schools  will  limit  their  aims  as  far  as  higher  schools  are 
concerned  to  preparation  for  special  types  of  professional  schools  of 
college  grade. 

ERNEST  R.   von   NARDROFF,   Principal  Stuyvesant   High   School, 
New  York  City. 

I  believe  that  the  move  made  by  the  High  School  Teachers  Asso- 
ciation toward  the  articulation  of  the  high  school  and  college  is  a 
great  step  in  the  right  direction.  I  should  like,  however,  to  see  in  the 
list  of  subjects  to  be  recognized  by  college  entrance  credits  mechanical 
drawing  represented  by  from  one-half  to  two  units,  and,  in  place  of 
"applied  Physics"  I  should  prefer  the  more  general  expression  of  "ad- 
vanced physics"  to  correspond  to  "advanced  chemistry." 

WILLIAM  L.  FELTER,  Ph.  D.,  Principal  Girls  High  School,  Brooklyn. 

I  congratulate  your  committee  on  the  excellent  scheme  which  it  has 
proposed.  Your  difficulty  has  been  to  adjust  conditions  which  grow 
out  of  the  former  one  type  high  school.  So  long  as  pupils  are  pfirsu- 
Ing  the  academic  course  the  present  requirements  for  admission  to 
colleges  can  easily  be  met.  But  with  the  differentiation  of  higb 
schools,  with  the  introduction  of  the  manual  training,  technical  and 
commercial  schools,  the  pupils  attending  these  new  types  of  high 
schools  are  placed  at  a  decided  disadvantage.  If  pupils  knew  when 
they  entered  high  school  what  their  after  life  was  to  be,  plans  might 
be  made  accordingly,  but  in  nearly  every  case  neither  the  pupil  nor 
the  parent  is  able  to  decide.  The  high  school  course  is  the  season  for 
testing,  for  developing  latent  powers,  for  deciding  what  the  future 
career  is  to  be.  Even  in  the  academic  schools  pupils  do  not  decide  as 
to  a  college  career  until  within  a  fortnight  of  the  date  of  graduation. 
With  the  present  rigid  college  entrance  requirements,  if  a  pupil  has 
made  a  misstep  anywhere  along  the  line  of  his  high  school  work, 
this  step  may  have  fatal  results. 

While  Latin  has  always  been  the  supreme  test  of  the  high  school 
pupil's  ability,  any  educator  of  any  standing  would  deem  that  other 
subjects  might  have  equally  great  value  in  determining  the  test.  Native 
genius   and  capability   should   be   elements   entering   into   the   fitting 

86 


of  a  pupil  for  college  rather  than  the  time  element.  For  illustration, 
a  bright  pupil  is  able  to  prepare  for  college  in  three  and  one-half 
years,  and  in  my  own  experience,  with  but  three  years  of  high  school 
training   has   won    university   scholarships. 

The  work  done  in  good  commercial  and  technical  schools  demands 
recognition  from  colleges.  Then,  too,  the  importance  placed  upon  his- 
tory, especially  with  reference  to  the  making  of  history  from  day  to 
day,  is  worthy  of  serious  consideration. 

If  the  plan  adopted  by  you  is  accepted,  and  I  earnestly  trust  it  will 
be,  by  the  colleges,  high  schools  of  all  types  will  stand  upon  exactly 
the  same  footing.  It  will  remain  for  the  pupils  in  the  newer  types  of 
schools  to  demonstrate  to  the  college  authorities  that  the  training  given 
in  their  subjects  has  as  much  educational  value  as  the  old  line  of 
academic  training.  I  believe  your  plan  is  worthy  of  endorsement  and 
of  a  protracted  trial  at  the  hands  of  the  college  authorities. 


NORTH  CAROLINA 

JAMES  Y.  JOYNER,   State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  and 
President  of  the  National  Education  Association. 

The  Articulation  of  High  School  and  College  would  have  been  an 
excellent  topic  for  discussion,  either  on  the  general  program  or  on  one 
of  the  departmental  programs,  and  I  wish  you  had  suggested  it  to 
me  before  the  completion  of  the  general  program.  I  regard  it  as  an 
exceedingly  important  subject,  and  I  agree,  in  the  main,  with  the  views 
expressed  in  the  excellent  statement  of  your  committee. 


NORTH   DAKOTA 

RICHARD   HAYWARD,    State   High   School   Inspector. 

Your  letter  to  State  Superintendent,  W.  L.  Stockwell,  has  been 
handed  to  me  for  reply.  In  general,  I  heartily  approve  of  the  ideas 
set  forth  by  your  Association.  I  believe  that  almost  any  high  school 
pupil  can  well  afford  to  spend  sufficient  time  to  do  two  or  three  units 
of  foreign  language  before  graduating;  but  except  for  the  few  more 
time  than  that  is  misspent.  All  high  school  graduates  should  have 
done  besides  some  foreign  language  in  most  cases,  some  work  in 
mathematics,  history  and  civics,  science,  and  at  least  three  units  in 
English.  He  should  also  have  given  y^  to  %  of  his  time  in  high  school 
to  music  and  drawing,  and  manual  training,  domestic  science,  com- 
mercial or  agricultural  subjects.  In  my  opinion  such  work,  well  done, 
should  be  accepted  for  entrance  to  college. 

37 


I  do  not  agree  that  a  college  should  accept  any  high  school  graduate; 
because  that  would  probably  mean  that  the  college  would  have  to  dis- 
miss some  of  them  after  a  short  trial  and  that  would  not  be  fair  to  the 
high  school  graduate.  Again,  in  my  opinion  a  high  school  pupil's  work 
should  be  over  half  academic, — there  is  a  chance  of  going  too  far  with 
vocational  training  in  high  school. 


OHIO 

CHARLES  S.  HOWE,  Ph.D.,  President  Case  School  of  Applied  Science, 

Cleveland. 

This  is  a  technical  school  and  hence  its  requirements  are  quite  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  ordinary  college.  We  accept  drawing — both 
mechanical  and  free  hand, — joinery,  pattern  making,  forging,  and 
machine  shop  practice,  for  admission.  We  also  allow  botany,  zoology, 
physiography,  advanced  physics,  advanced  chemistry,  modern  history, 
civics,  and  economics  to  be  presented  for  admission  up  to  four  units. 
We  have  not  yet  felt  that  we  could  accept  commercial  subjects. 

There  is  one  objection  to  a  technical  school's  accepting  whatever  sub- 
jects the  student  brings  from  the  high  school,  because  our  students 
must  go  on  with  higher  mathematics,  with  English,  with  drawing  and 
descriptive  geometry,  and  with  modern  languages.  If  part  of  the 
students  came  with  one  preparation  in  each  of  these  subjects,  and  part 
with  some  other  preparation,  there  would  be  no  starting  point  for  any 
of  them;  or  rather  there  would  be  several  starting  points  for  our 
college  work,  and  it  would  be  exceedingly  diflBcult  to  properly  classify 
the  freshmen. 

In  reply  to  a  subsequent  inquiry,  President  Howe  writes: 

I  cannot  give  you  information  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  drawing  and 
shop  work  upon  our  students  because  we  have  never  made  a  list  of  these 
men  nor  a  comparison  between  them  and  others.  I  am  perfectly  satis- 
fied in  my  own  mind  that  manual  training  work  when  carried  on  in 
the  right  way  is  helpful  in  the  mental  as  well  as  in  the  manual  develop- 
ment of  students. 

We  have  always  been  willing  to  accept  commercial  law  and  I  believe 
economics  for  admission.  These  would  come  under  elective  subjects. 
Commercial  geography  has  never  come  before  us  for  discussion.  I 
presume  that  if  a  student  should  offer  it  and  should  also  offer  the  other 
subjects  which  we  absolutely  require,  there  would  be  no  hesitation  in 
giving  him  full  credit  for  it. 

ALSTON    ELLIS,    LL.D.,    President    Ohio    University,    Athens. 

My  opinion  is  that  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  country  will 
have  to  make  their  entrance  requirements  more  flexible  to  conditions 


that  now  exist  in  the  secondary  schools.  The  old-time  requirements 
were  good  in  their  day  but  they  have  outlived  the  time  when  they 
can  be  applied  with  satisfactory  results.  I  do  not  feel  that  we  have 
rounded  out  a  perfect  plan  at  Ohio  University,  but  we  surely  have 
devised  one  that  will  meet  modern  conditions  better  than  any  that 
I  know  to  be  in  operation  in  other  higher  institutions  of  learning. 

GEORGE  M.  JONES,  Secretary  Oberlin  College,  Oberlin. 

I  am  very  much  interested  in  the  work  of  your  committee.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  graduates  of  good  high  schools  ought  to  be  able 
to  secure  admission  to  college  whether  they  have  taken  the  regular 
"college  preparatory"  course  or  not,  and  I  expect  that  the  example 
of  Clark  College  will  be  followed  by  many  other  colleges.  Oberlin  has 
a  minimum  language  requirement  of  four  units.  These  can  be  pre- 
sented in  Latin  or  a  combination  of  Latin  and  a  second  language.  We 
specify  a  minimum  of  two  units  in  Latin  and  have  not  yet  reached  the 
point  where  we  are  willing  to  release  this  requirement  for  our  A.B. 
degree.  Perhaps  the  time  has  come  for  this  change,  and  I  shall  take 
pleasure  in  presenting  your  circular  to  our  Committee  on  Admission  to 
see  whether  the  committee  will  be  willing  to  allow  four  years  of  French 
or  German  to  meet  the  language  requirement  without  any  Latin.  We 
have  no  B.S,  course  and  there  is  no  discrimination  against  Latin. 

WILLIAM  E.  SMYSER,  Registrar,  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware. 

This  institution  (Ohio  Wesleyan  University)  has  for  a  number  of 
years  observed  the  recommendations  of  the  North  Central  Associa- 
tion of  Colleges  and  Secondary  Schools  with  regard  to  the  acceptance 
of  certificates  from  approved  High  Schools.  High  School  subjects 
are  accepted  to  the  total  of  fifteen  units  in  assigning  the  candidate 
to  Freshmen  classification.  In  case  the  candidate  has  not  completed 
certain  subjects  prescribed  for  admission,  he  makes  up  his  deficiency 
in  the  sub-Freshman  studies  with  the  classes  of  the  academic  depart- 
ment, so  that  a  very  satisfactory  articulation  between  the  work  of  the 
college  and  the  secondary  school  has  been  effected.  Our  experience 
has  been  that  the  plan  works  well,  and  I  believe  that  this  is  the 
general  experience  of  the  other  colleges  of  Ohio  which  are  co-operat- 
ing in  the  same  way. 

W.  W.  BOYD,  Dean,  College  of  Education,  Ohio  State  University, 

Columbus. 

Your  statement  addressed  to  Dr.  Thompson,  the  President  of  our 
University,   has  been  referred  to  me   for  reply. 

In    the    beginning,    permit   me    to   express    an    appreciation    of   the 


effort  you  are  making  for  a  closer  articulation  between  high  schools 
and  colleges.  The  high  school  does  not  exist  for  the  purpose  of  pre- 
paring a  few  persons  for  the  acquirement  of  a  monopoly  in  education. 
It  exists  to  make  ordinary  knowledge  more  universal.  But,  as  long 
as  it  leaves  the  student  after  a  full  course  with  the  rudiments  only 
of  knowledge,  it  should  leave  him  in  that  condition  wherein  he  can 
get  more  knowledge.  However,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  the  business  of 
the  college  to  take  a  student  at  any  station  of  educational  attainment 
and  by  adding  four  years  of  work  graduate  him  with  a  degree.  If 
the  college  is  to  arrive  at  a  given  point  at  a  fixed  rate  of  speed,  it 
must  establish  a  starting  place.  This  is  what  causes  the  high  school 
to  feel  the  burden  of  college  entrance  requirements.  These  require- 
ments may  be  fixed,  arbitrary  and  in  some  cases  unreasonable.  But 
very  much  more  of  the  reputation,  if  not  the  character,  of  an  educa- 
tional institution  is  determined  by  its  starting  place  than  by  its 
stopping  place.  As  colleges  have  different  ideals,  they  will  naturally 
establish  different  starting  places. 

As  I  am  not  familiar  either  with  the  entrance  requirements  of  Clark 
College  or  with  the  curricula  of  the  New  York  high  schools,  I  am 
unable  to  say  whether  it  would  be  considered  wise  for  our  authorities 
here  to  follow  the  lead  of  Clark  College  in  admitting  students  from 
the  New  York  high  schools. 

A  student  may  enter  our  College  of  Arts  as  a  candidate  for  the  A.B. 
degree  with  no  Latin  or  Greek.  He  will  be  required  to  offer  four 
units  of  foreign  language  which  may  be  Latin,  Greek,  German,  French 
or  Spanish.  Some  credit  is  given  for  physiography,  zoology,  botany, 
physiology,  agriculture,  free  hand  drawing,  manual  training  and 
domestic  science. 

The  necessity  for  a  divergence  in  high  school  courses  for  "prepara- 
tion for  life"  and  "preparation  for  college,"  which  your  circular  indi- 
cates, does  not  seem  to  be  well  established.  A  better  articulation  of 
both  institutions  may  lead  to  better  results  for  the  high  school  stu- 
dent who  does  not  intend  to  go  to  college  as  well  as  for  the  one  who 
intends  to  go.  It  has  not  been  proved  that  the  so-called  course  of 
study  in  "preparation  for  life"  will  save  the  great  number  of  boys 
.tnd  girls  who  are  said  to  be  sacrificed  by  the  course  of  study  in 
"preparation  for  college."  Some  pupils  have  an  aversion  to  work  of 
*iny  kind.  I  feel  that  any  course  of  study  which  does  not  involve 
plenty  of  real  work  will  be  a  failure.  It  is  true  that  an  interest  in 
some  studies  may  stimulate  work.  The  larger  truth  is  that  some 
teachers  have  an  ability  to  stimulate  zealous  effort  with  any  study. 
In  the  high  school  as  elsewhere  the  teacher  is  the  greatest  factor. 

I  have  no  doubt  the  service  of  your  committee  will  be  a  great  aid 

40 


to  our  colleges  and  universities  in  the  solution  of  the  vexed  question. 
If  we  can  be  of  further  assistance  to  you  in  any  way,  we  will  be 
glad  to  know   it. 

WILLIAM  H.  ELSON,  City  Superintendent,  Cleveland. 

I  am  much  pleased  at  the  statement  issued  by  your  organization. 
I  approve  most  heartily  of  the  movement  toward  more  liberal  interpre- 
tation  of  college   entrance   requirements. 


PENNSYLVANIA 

ISAAC   SHARPLESS,  LL.D.,   President   Haverford  College,   Haverford. 

I  should  be  very  glad  to  co-operate  with  any  movement  which  would 
increase  the  ability  of  the  high  schools  to  give  the  courses  of  study  they 
think  is  best  for  them,  and  at  the  same  time  send  their  students  to 
college.  We  have  gone  some  distance  in  Haverford  College  in  this 
direction.  I  do  not  feel  sure,  however,  that  it  will  be  r-ght  for  us  to 
adopt  the  whole  of  your  list  of  subjects  even  for  elective  subjects,  but 
your  circular  will  cause  us  to  consider  very  carefully  whether  we  can 
add  something  to  our  present  list;  nor  does  it  seem  to  me  to  be  wise 
for  us  to  reduce  the  requirements  of  admission  from  two  languages 
to  one.    Any  two  foreign  languages  will  now  admit  to  our  college. 

GEORGE  EDWARD  REED,  S.  T.  D.,  LL.  D.,  President  Dickinson 
College,    Carlisle,    Pa. 

The  majority  of  the  faculty  of  Dickinson  College  are  of  the  opinion 
that  there  should  be  a  closer  articulation  between  the  high  schools 
of  the  country  and  the  colleges. 

My  personal  opinion  is  that  students  who  have  completed  a  four-year 
course  of  study  in  a  high  school  of  high  and  approved  rank  might 
justly  be  entered  in  any  college  or  university  even  though  the  student 
may  have  pursued  what  is  known  as  the  commercial  course  or  have 
taken  his  course  in  a  technical  training  school  where  sufficient  em- 
phasis is  placed  upon  purely  cultural  studies.  Most  of  these  studies 
are  mentioned  in  your  circular,  especially  Music,  Modern  History, 
Civics,  Economics,  Commercial  Law,  Advanced  Bookkeeping  and  Ac- 
counting, etc.,  and  might  well  be  recognized  in  college  entrance  cred- 
its. Here  in  Dickinson  college  we  have  one  course  of  study  called  the 
scientific  course,  where,  under  one  set  of  conditions,  a  student  need 
not  present  Latin  as  meeting  one  of  the  requirements  of  admission  in 
said  course,  but  he  must  be  able  to  present  a  large  amount  of  work 
in  two  modern  languages.     We  have  not  been  giving  credit  for  tlie 

41 


subjects  enumerated  in  your  letter,  but  my  judgment  is  that  the  time 
is  coming  when  this  will  be  done. 

I  hope  that  out  of  the  discussion  which  is  now  going  on  in  the 
country  there  may  come  a  closer  articulation  of  the  college  and  the 
high  school  and  a  proper  differentiation  also,  if  possible,  in  the  work 
of  the  institutions  of  the  kind  described. 

JOSEPH  SWAIN,  President,  Swarthmore  College. 

The  difficulty  you  mention  has  been  partially  solved  at  Swarthmore  by 
allowing  a  wide  range  of  choice  of  entrance  subjects. 

A.  H.  ESPENOHADE,  Registrar  Pennsylvania  State  College. 

Personally  I  am  in  hearty  accord  with  the  ground  which  your  com- 
mittee takes  in  its  circular  letter.  For  admission  to  this  college  we 
now  require  three  units  of  English;  three  of  Mathematics  (which 
include  Algebra  through  Quadratics,  and  Plane  and  Solid  Geometry) ; 
two  units  of  history;  two  units  or  years  of  some  one  language;  two 
units  of  science  and  two  units  of  electives.  A  pretty  wide  range  of 
different  subjects  may  be  chosen  for  the  two  elective  units;  and  yet 
this  range  of  electives  is  not  so  wide  as  that  proposed  in  your  recent 
letter. 

REV.  S.  B.  McCORMlCK,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  University  of  Pittsburgh. 

I  submitted  to  several  important  members  of  our  Faculty  your  letter 
and  statement.  The  expressions  of  opinion  which  came  are  as  follows: 
— they,  in  general,  accord  with  my  own  views: 

"All  admit  the  waste  in  education  to-day  because  of  the  imperfect 
articulation  of  the  High  School  and  College. 

There  is  a  clear  question  as  to  whether  there  is  not  too  much  of 
the  'practical'  in  this  suggested  solution  to  this  very  serious  difficulty. 

I  am  not  ready  to  say  that  this  suggested  reduction  in  the  present 
requirements  in  order  that  the  High  School  may  take  in  even  a  greater 
variety  of  what  this  plan  wants  recognized  as  standard  subjects  will 
bring  a  better  articulation  of  High  School  and  College. 

The  whole  question  of  High  School  'electives'  merits  the  most  care- 
ful consideration  in  this  connection." — J.  H.  White. 

"The  need  of  adjustment  between  High  School  and  College  is 
certainly  pressing. 

I  am  not  in  favor  of  dropping  the  requirement  of  two  modern 
languages,  except  where  the  group  system  prevails  when  the  amount 
of  preparation  varies. 

I  would  like  to  see  the  certificate  of  all  High  Schools  accepted  for 
entrance,  but  that  state  of  things  depends  upon  the  High  Schools  them- 

42 


selves.  With  Professor  Gibbs,  I  believe  that  quality — not  quantity  is 
wanted." — G.  A.  M.  Dyess. 

"I  believe  these  suggestions  are  worthy  of  serious  considerafion." 
— R.  T.  Stewart. 

"Colleges  may  recognize  the  subjects  listed  on  the  last  page  of  the 
circular,  provided  the  student  be  allowed  to  present  from  this  group 
not  more  than  five  of  the  fifteen  units  required  fcr  entrance. 

The  reduction  of  entrance  requirements  to  one  foreign  language 
(four  units)   is  to  be  approved. 

Colleges  will  be  more  ready  to  grant  credits  for  industrial  subjects 
than  they  are  at  present,  after  they  all  see  an  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  preparation.  Merely  quantitative  standards  prevail  too 
exclusively  at  present." — L.  R.  Gibbs. 

"I  should  like  to  see  the  certificate  of  a  High  School  giving  a  four 
years'  course  accepted  for  its  value  as  a  whole  rather  than  for  the  fexact 
number  of  units  that  might  be  counted  up  from  it  upon  the  basis  of 
the  standards  now  in  force.  I  agree  with  Professor  Gibbs  that  we  most 
pressingly  need  quality  rather  than  quantity  standards,  and  I  should 
be  very  much  in  favor  of  letting  a  pupil  who  showed  his  preparation  by 
his  performance — in  College  classes — go  on  with  them  whether  certain 
exact  conditions  of  admission  were  fulfilled  or  not  so  long  as  no  con- 
dition exists  that  does  not  break  a  logical  continuity  of  subject,  or 
prevert  progress  to  higher  reaches  in  it." — A.  E.  Frost. 

"Surely  this  movement  is  timely.  There  is  a  lamentable  lack  of 
articulation  between  High  School  and  uollege, — between  the  work 
which  the  High  School  must  do  and  that  which  the  College  may  do. 

For  entrance  requirements  to  the  School  of  Economics,  I  should  be 
glad  to  have  all  the  subjects  mentioned  (excepting  possibly  music 
and  household  science  and  art)  recognized  by  college  entrance  credits. 

I  approve  the  suggestion  that  only  one  foreign  language  be  required 
for  admission." — J.  T.  Holdsworth. 

CHEESMAN    A.    HERRICK,    President    Girard    College,    Philadelphia. 

I  am  interested  in  your  communication  as  I  have  spent  nearly  twenty 
years  in  High  School  work. 

Girard  College,  however,  is  neither  a  college  nor  a  school  which  fits 
for  College,  so  that  we  are  not  specifically  concerned  in  your  communi- 
cation.   I  wish  you  success  in  the  good  work  you  are  doing. 

A.    DUNCAN   YOCUM,    Professor   of   Pedagogy,    University   of 
Pennsylvania. 

While  I  cannot  speak  for  the  university  I  am  in  hearty  sympathy 
with  the  general  recommendations  bf  your  committee.  I  would 
cheerfully  do  anything  that  I  can  to  further  your  movement  here  or 
elsewhere. 


REED  B.  TIETRICK,  Deputy  State  Superintendent. 

There  is  a  field  for  important  work  in  the  line  of  reorganization  of  secon- 
dary education.  The  first  business  of  the  high  school  is  not  to  "prepare 
for  college."  If  colleges  can  accept  "preparation  for  life"  as  entrance  re- 
quirements without  harming  the  work  of  the  college,  such  a  scheme  would 
be  a  decided  "step"  in  the  cause  of  education.  It  would  seem  that  the 
subjects  which  you  propose  could  be  recognized  as  college  entrance  credits. 
It  is  not  so  much  what  one  studies  as  it  is  that  he  studies  and  how  he  studies. 


OLIVER    P.    CORNMAN,    Ph.D.,    Associate    Superintendent, 
Philadelphia. 

Your  letter  and  statement  has  been  referred  to  me  for  reply.  We 
are  in  hearty  accord  with  the  most  radical  suggestions  of  your  state- 
ment, and  if  the  recommendation  could  not  be  accomplished,  we  believe 
that  the  modifications  suggested  in  lieu  thereof  to  be  both  feasible  and 
wise.  We  trust  that  the  work  that  you  have  performed  upon  this  prob- 
lem will  have  some  practical  outcome,  and  that  some  reform  may  be 
accomplished  in  the  not  too  distant  future. 

JAMES    J.    PALMER,    City    Superintendent,    Oil    City. 

I  am  very  much  pleased  that  your  organization  has  taken  up  this 
question,  and  I  assure  you  that  I  heartily  approve  the  position  the 
association  has  taken  in  this  matter.  The  High  School  is  no  longer  a 
special  preparatory  school  for  the  college,  and  besides  the  High  School 
is  manned  in  many  cases  by  just  as  capable  teachers  as  are  those  found 
in  the  college.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  high  school  ought  to  be 
allowed  the  freedom  that  would  develop  its  proper  sphere  of  useful- 
ness in  the  community. 

EDWARD  RYNEARSON,  Director  of  High  Schools,  Pittsburgh. 

I  am  delighted  with  the  spirit  of  your  letter  of  the  10th  inst.  and  of 
the  enclosures,  and  am  much  interested  in  your  movement.  High 
school  men  everywhere  are  interested  in  the  work  you  are  planning  in 
New  York. 

W.  D.   LEWIS,   Principal   William   Penn  High  School  for  Girls, 
Philadelphia. 

Until  the  colleges  recognize  as  a  unit  for  entrance  any  subject  es- 
sential to  the  education  of  any  boy  or  girl,  our  high  schools  will  be 
very  much  handicapped.  The  problem  of  the  high  school  to-day  is 
that  of  adjustment  to  the  needs  of  young  people  who  are  to  live  their 
lives  in  a  complicated  civilization.  The  courses  must  therefore  be 
broad  in  order  to  prepare  pupils  to  meet  widely  differing  demands. 


Great  numbers  of  these  boys  and  girls  do  not  know  whether  or  not 
they  will  go  to  college  until  they  are  well  along  in  the  high  school 
course.  If  the  work  already  done  is  not  accepted  for  entrance,  the 
doors  are  closed  to  many  of  the  most  promising  students. 

It  is  time  for  the  colleges  to  abandon  the  fetish  of  classicism  and 
recognize  themselves  as  an  integral  part  of  the  educational  machinery 
of  the  country. 

Principal  Lewis  sends  us  the  following  statements  from  prominent 
educators : 

President  Jordan. — H.  S.  [stands  for]  well  rounded  education. 
"This  is  all  that  the  colleges  have  a  right  to  ask,  and  for  them  to 
specify  certain  classes  of  subjects,  regardless  of  the  real  interests 
of  the  secondary  schools  is  a  species  of  impertinence  which  only  tradi- 
tion justifies." 

G.  Stanley  Hall. — The  domination  of  the  high  school  by  the  college 
Is  an  anacronism,  a  survival  from  a  very  different  period  in  the 
nation's  life. 

Prof.  Perrin,  Boston  University. — They  are  the  most  preposterous 
requirements  for  the  admission  of  boys  to  college.  The  ones  who 
are  to  leave  school  and  go  to  work  are  the  ones  who  are  hurt  the  most. 

E.  J.  Goodwin. — We  are  gradually  coming  to  recognize  the  injustice 
of  organizing  our  high  school  in  the  interest  of  the  few  alone  who 
are  able  to  command  a  liberal  or  semi-liberal  education. 

Prof.  Samuel  Wendell  Williston,  Chicago  University. — The  fact  that 
only  twelve  per  cent,  of  those  who  enter  high  school  ever  graduate  is 
largely  due  to  the  influence  of  the  college. 

C.  P.  Carey,  State  Superintendent,  Wisconsin  Schools. — Examination 
for  entrance  to  college  means  dry-rot  in  the  secondary  school  *  *   * 

What  we  ask  is  that  the  universities  should  release  their  grip  on 
the  schools  of  the  state,  and  give  them  a  chance  to  develop.  They 
ought  to  be  permitted  to  develop  freely  from  within  and  not  be  forced 
into  the  Chinese  shoe  of  college  entrance  requirements. 

Emperor  William  in  1890i. — We  ought  to  train  up  young  Germans 
with  a  national  spirit,  not  as  Greeks  or  Romans.  We  must  depart 
from  the  basis  which  has  been  the  tradition  of  centuries,  from  monastic 
schools  of  the  middle  ages  when  Latin  was  the  chief  thing  with  a 
little  Greek  in  addition.  I  will  therefore  approve  the  foundation  of 
no  more  schools  in  the  future  unless  their  necessity  can  be  proved. 

Vocational  Fr'y  in  large  cities, 

Wm.  Orr,  Sch.  Rev.  Jn.  '09.  417. 

Superintendent  Stratton  D.  Brooks. — ^The  demands  as  to  admission 
should  be  based  upon  the  unofficial  or  at  least  unsystematic  judgment 

45 


of  the  principal.  By  this  I  mean  that  no  schematic  arrangement  of 
percentage  or  subterfuges  or  reports  should  take  the  place  of  the 
real  judgment  of  the  principal. 

Prof.  G.  H.  Nettleton,  Yale. — Much  good  ink  is  shed  yearly  in  dis- 
cussion of  educational  ideals  for  prep,  schools,  but  so  long  as  the 
college  examiner  remains  the  final  judge  from  whose  verdict  no 
effective  appeal  can  be  taken,  the  secondary  schools  must  inevitably 
conform  in  large  measure  to  the  methods  of  the  particular  court 
before  ever  the  cases  of  their  pupils  come  to  trial. 

JOSEPH    G.    E.    SMEDLEY,    Principal   Chester    High    School,   Chester. 

I  see  no  good  reason  why  colleges  should  not  make  up  a  list  of 
approved  high  schools,  name  certain  approved  and  acceptable  courses, 
and  then  admit  the  graduates  of  such  schools  and  courses  on  the 
recommendations  of  the  principals.  It  imposes  a  great  burden  when 
principals  are  required  to  fill  out  a  number  of  very  detailed  certificates. 
It  should  be  easy  to  withhold  the  privilege  of  recommendation  from 
schools  abusing  the  privilege. 

CHARLES  S.  FOOS,  City  Superintendent,  Reading. 

I  concur  fully  in  the  statement  made  by  your  association.  I  trust 
that  your  scheme  will  find  favor  and  I  believe  that  its  adoption  will 
do  away  with  college  domination  and  make  the  High  Schools  of  the 
country  what  they  ought  to  be,  fitting  schools  not  only  for  those  who 
go  to  college  but  for  those  who  do  not  go  to  college.  I  assure  you  of 
my  earnest  co-operation. 

EDWARD  S.  LING,  Superintendent,  Lock  Haven. 

I  have  read  your  statement  with  interest.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
changes  therein  suggested  in  college  entrance  requirements  must  come 
soon.  We  have  felt  quite  keenly  the  injustice  in  the  non-recognition 
of  certain  kinds  of  work  which  we  feel  that  we  should  give  our  pupils 
to  train  them  for  life.  •  We  do  not  believe  that  the  students  should  be 
divided  into  the  two  classes.  Its  results  have  been  unsatisfactory  to 
us.  Let  us  give  them  the  preparation  for  life  and  let  the  colleges  rec- 
ognize this  as  sufficient  preparation  for  college,  when  the  preparation 
has  been  thorough. 

We  should  be  glad  to  see  the  recommendations  of  your  statement  put 
into  practical  operation  throughout  the  country. 

RHODE  ISLAND 

REV.   WILLIAM   H.  P.  FAUNCE,  LL.D.,  President  Brown  University, 

Providence. 

I  believe  that  the  teachers  and  principals  are  right  in  asking  for  a 
closer  articulation  and  a  more  flexible  system  of  entrance  requirements. 

46 


The  colleges  are  now  moving  toward  more  "required  work"  aTter  stu- 
dents enter  college,  thiS)  to  be  accompanied  by  less  "required  work"  in 
preparation  for  college.  That  is  to  say,  the  college  should  determine 
more  specifically  what  students  should  study  after  they  enter,  and 
the  high  schools  should  determine  more  specifically  what  they  wish 
their  students  to  study  while  in  the  high  school.  I  believe  in  the  reduc- 
tion of  required  subjects  for  admission  to  college,  and  one  foreign 
language  is  enough  in  the  case  of  many  students.  1  believe  there  should 
be  no  discrimination  against  Latin  for  the  course  leading  to  the  B.S. 
degree. 

I  am  unable  to  go  as  far  in  this  matter,  however,  as  your  Teachers' 
Association.  Possibly  you  forget  that  while  it  is  quite  safe  for  all 
the  eastern  colleges  to  accept  the  graduates  of  any  New  York  High 
School,  yet  we  have  to  deal  not  simply  with  the  high  schools  of  New 
York  City,  but  with  those  of  small  and  backward  country  towns 
throughout  the  land.  These  high  schools  are  usually  destitute  of 
laboratories  or  libraries,  and  rarely  have  adequate  teaching  force. 
When  such  a  high  school  sends  its  pupils  who  offer  shop  work  or 
joinery  or  pattern-making,  of  course  the  situation  is  ludicrous.  When 
such  high  schools  present  physiography  or  zoology,  there  is  no  way 
we  have  of  estimating  the  value  or  meaning  of  such  a  course. 

If  we  are  to  accept  skill  in  manipulating  a  typewriter  for  admission 
to  college,  should  we  not  accept  skill  in  using  the  sewing  machine  or 
in  operating  a  trolley-car?  I  believe  there  is  a  good  deal  more  educa- 
tion gained  in  operating  an  electric  car  than  in  operating  a  typewriter, 
but  how  can  we  estimate  the  amount  of  education  thus  gained? 

I  have  thus  stated  a  few  of  the  difficulties.  Many  of  the  subjects  you 
mention  as  proper  preparation  for  college  cannot  be  taught  in  three- 
fourths  of  the  high  schools  of  this  country.  But  with  your  main  posi- 
tion I  am  heartily  in  sympathy,  and  shall  bring  the  matter  at  once 
before  my  Faculty. 

WALTER  E.  RANGER,  State  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools. 

.  I  sincerely  commend  the  purpose  of  your  committee  to  promote  a 
better  articulation  of  high  schools  and  colleges,  and  heartily  approve 
its  statement  regarding  the  need  of  a  reorganization  of  secondary 
education.  I  have  long  realized  the  need  of  greater  freedom  of  the 
secondary  school  in  determining  courses  and  subjects,  chiefly  for  the 
good  of  its  students.  Twenty-seven  years  ago,  as  principal  of  a  sec- 
ondary school,  I  introduced  into  regular  courses  commercial  law,  civics, 
economics,  as  well  as  several  scientific  and  commercial  branches.  Most 
boys  and  girls  preparing  for  college  elected  the  three  subjects  named. 
This  indicates  my  attitude  toward  arts  and  subjects  suggested  by  needs 
of  students  and  urged  by  popular  demand. 


VERMONT 

JOHN  M.  THOMAS,  D.  D.,  President  Middlebury  College. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  your  communication  of  May  19th  enclosing 
the  Important  statement  of  the  High  School  Teachers'  Association  of 
New  York  City  concerning  college  entrance  requirements.  I  shall  refer 
these  documents  to  our  committee  on  admission.  In  the  meantime  may 
I  say  that  I  am  heartily  in  favor  of  the  views  expressed  by  your 
Committee.  I  believe  the  college  should  join  itself  to  the  high  school 
and  that  the  public  high  school  should  not  be  required  to  adapt  itself 
to  the  college.  The  secondary  school  should  have  the  responsibility  of 
giving  to  its  pupils  the  education  demanded  by  their  environment  and 
suited  to  their  time  of  life,  without  embarrassment  from  other  con- 
siderations. I  should  be  glad  to  admit  without  further  requirements 
the  graduates  of  the  high  schools  of  New  York  City. 

Your  suggestion  that  there  should  be  no  discrimination  against  Latin 
for  the  course  leading  to  the  B.S.  degree  is  excellent,  and  I  think 
we  should  not  hesitate  to  allow  credit  for  subjects  specified  on  the 
last  page  of  your  circular. 


MASON  S.   STONE,   State    Superintendent  of  Education. 

In  response  to  yours  of  the  26th,  I  hasten  to  state  that  in  my  opinion 
a  public  high  school,  being  a  public  institution  and  supported  by  public 
funds,  should  not  fit  for  college.  The  college  should  fit  to  the  high 
school.  The  chief  function  of  the  high  school  is  to  enable  the  individual 
to  find  out  what  he  can  best  do  and  to  give  him  a  certain  degree  of  cul- 
ture and  discipline.  If  the  individual  is  required  to  fit  the  school  and 
the  school  does  not  fit  the  individual,  the  individual  becomes  crippled, 
and  we  are  having  too  many  deformities  as  a  result  of  our  restricted 
and  required  courses. 


ALBERT  W.  VARNEY,  City  Superintendent,  Bennington. 

I  am  most  heartily  in  accord  with  the  position  taken  by  your  Associa- 
tion. I  believe  the  fairest  and  most  satisfactory  arrangement  would 
be  to  accept  graduates  from  any  four  years'  high  school  course,  but  on 
certificate  of  the  principal  that  the  individual  has  the  fit  and  mental 
power  to  do  college  work.  It  is  a  question  of  mental  power  not  of  any 
set  of  subjects  passed.  Many  graduates  from  country  high  schools 
have  not  the  mental  power  nor  natural  ability  necessary  for  college 
work.  You  mention  Clark,  but  that  college  asks  for  only  the  best.  It 
does  not  undertake  to  give  a  college  education  to  all  who  hold  a  high 

48 


school  diploma.  I  think,  therefore,  that  a  principal's  certificate  of 
fitness  is  the  one  requirement  in  addition  to  a  four  years'  high  school 
course.  If  this  cannot  be  obtained  as  the  requirement,  then  your  rec- 
ommendations would  be  the  next  best  change.  I  approve  especially  of 
the  one  foreign  language  requirement. 

Our  high  school  principal,  Mr.  H.  B.  Dickinson,  also  endorses  your 
recommendations. 


A.    E.    TUTTLE,    Principal    Bellows    Falls    High    School. 

I  approve  this  idea  most  heartily,  and,  in  justice  to  all  concerned, 
the  colleges  must  very  soon  adopt  the  plan  outlined  above. 


WASHINGTON 

EDWARD    O.  5ISSON,    Professor   of  Education,   University   of 
Washington. 

'   .  I  may  say  that  the  University  of  Washington  has  already  made  to 
,the   high   schools   practically  all   the  concessions  you   suggest  in  the 
circular. 


49 


SECONDARY  DEPARTMENT 

NATIONAL    EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 

RESOI.UTIONS  Adopted  Jui.y,  1910 

WHEREAS,  a  wide  range  of  high  school  subjects  is  now  demanded 
in  view  of  the  varied  needs  of  society  and  the  diversified  interests  of 
different  students,  and 

WHEREAS,  manual  training,  commercial  branches,  music,  house- 
hold science  and  art,  agriculture,  etc.,  when  well  taught  and  thoroughly 
learned  are  worthy  of,  and  justly  entitled  to,  recognition  in  college 
entrance  credits,  and 

WHEREAS,  colleges  in  certain  parts  of  the  United  States  continue 
to  require  two  foreign  languages  from  every  applicant  regardless  of 
his  dominant  interest,  and 

WHEREAS,  this  requirement  in  addition  to  such  work  in  English, 
Mathematics,  History,  and  Science  as  is  essential  to  the  high  school 
course  of  every  student  precludes  the  possibility  of  giving  adequate 
attention  to  these  other  subjects,  therefore  be  it 

RESOLVED,  that  it  is  the  sense  of  the  Secondary  Department  of 
the  National  Education  Association  that  the  interests  of  high  school 
students  would  be  advanced  by  the  reduction  of  the  requirement  in 
foreign  language  to  one  such  language  and  the  recognition  as  electives 
of  all  subjects  well  taught  in  the  high  school,  and  he  it  further 

RESOLVED,  that  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Department  that  until  such 
modification  is  made  by  the  colleges,  the  high  schools  will  be  greatly 
hampered  in  their  attempts  to  serve  the  best  interests  of  boys  and 
girls  in  the  public  high  school. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  MANUAL  TRAINING  AND  ART 

EDUCATION 

NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 

RESOI.UTIONS  Adopted  JuIvY,  1910 

WHEREAS,  many  High  Schools  in  the  United  States  are  now  giving 
good  courses  in  Shop  Work,  Qrawing,  Household  Science  and  Art,  and 

WHEREAS,  these  subjects  contribute  to  the  increase  of  intellectual 
and  imaginative  power,  to  the  broadening  of  social  understanding,  and 


to  the  usefulness  and  happiness  of  the  student  in  ways  not  afforded  by 
other  subjects,  and 

WHEREAS,  the  recognition  of  these  subjects  by  college  entrance 
credits  would  encourage  High  Schools  in  extending  and  intensifying 
this  work,  therefore  be  it 

RESOLVED,  by  the  Manual  Training  Section  of  the  National  Edu- 
cation Association  that  the  colleges  be  urged  to  grant  recognition  to 
these  subjects  as  electives  whenever  this  work  is  well  taught  in  any 
High  School. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  BUSINESS  EDUCATION 

NATIONAL  EDUCATION  ASSOCIATION 

RESOI.UTIONS  Adopted  July  1910 

WHEREAS,  many  college  graduates  enter  business  life  and  nearly 
every  college  graduate  requires  some  knowledge  of  business  practice 
and  theory,  and 

WHEREAS,  our  high  schools  are  now  offering  good  courses  in 
business  and  the  graduates  of  business  courses  in  the  high  school 
would  often  be  encouraged  to  enter  college  if  the  work  already  done 
were  recognized  by  college  entrance  credits,  and 

WHEREAS,  commercial  efficiency  would  be  increased  and  a  right 
conception  of  business  as  a  public  service  would  be  more  readily 
inculcated  in  our  youth  if  commercial  courses  were  given  the  recog- 
nition to  which  they  are  justly  entitled,  therefore  be  it 

RESOLVED,  by  the  Business  Section  of  the  National  Education 
Association,  that  colleges  be  and  hereby  are  urged,  in  the  interests 
both  of  our  boys  and  girls,  and  of  higher  standards  of  business 
efficiency  and  integrity,  to  grant  college  entrance  credit  to  business 
courses  and  that  the  entrance  requirements  in  foreign  languages  be 
reduced. 


UNIVERSITY 

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